Wow… Had this story up for less than forty eight hours and it already has seven follows, two favorites, and one review. And that was with FF acting all wonky. So thank you to all those who supported this little side project of mine! Honestly wasn't expecting this big of a response. Well… big being relative. Not bad for a story that was just posted (in my opinion). Anyways, enough rambling! Story time!

EDIT (9-19-17)

Updated with more details and smoother transitions

Hiccup

I groaned was I started to come to my senses. The day so far was a blur… I had woken up at my house, ate breakfast, grabbed a spare fish, and started out looking for the Night Fury. A dumb idea by most standards, but my curiosity had gotten the better of me. The rain from the previous night had made much of the island muddy, but I wasn't going to let that stop me. I remembered finding this interesting cove. There was a lake at one end and the rest was a mixture of trees and grass. That was when I saw it; the Night Fury. It gave some sort of growl or bark. I tripped on something as I tried to back up. After that… I don't remember much. There was screaming… that much I do remember.

That and my entire body aches… I opened my eyes and looked around. It took me a moment to get my bearings straight. I did not like what I saw. I was at the bottom of the cove. The last time I checked, I was at the top. That would explain why I ache so much, and why I am having trouble remembering what happened. My head still hurt a lot though and I moved my left hand to rub it some. Something felt different… Very different. Even though I was sore, I felt stronger. Almost as if some powerful force was flowing through me. Even then, sitting up proved to be a difficult challenge. My left hand felt different from my right as pushed myself into a sitting position. Two things happened next.

One, I saw the Night Fury asleep a few feet away from me. Two, I caught a glimpse of… well, what used to be my hand. It took every fiber in my body not to scream at the top of my lungs. Instead I did all the freaking out in my mind. Something tells me that waking up a Night Fury by screaming my lungs out was a good way to get maimed by an angry dragon. What was I freaking out about? My hand was a dragon claw! It was complete with mostly black scales with a few brown scales scattered throughout, sharp claws, and everything else.

What happened next scared me even more. The scales started advancing up my arm. Strangely, they started turning a more brown in color the further they went up my arm. The transformation was incredibly painful as well. Having your skin cells rearrange themselves into something completely foreign is not something I would recommend. I finally reached my pain tolerance however and let out a loud scream. Doubling over, I used my still good right hand to grasp my left wrist. The scales felt strangely smooth, the only roughness coming from the slight changes in height between each scale. They had a cooler temperature to them as well. It was quite the contrast from the burning feeling that was now well past my elbow and making its way to my shoulder.

I glanced up and saw the freshly awakened Night Fury. It was in a low, crouched position staring at me with narrow eyes. I half expected it to attack me, but it never did. Instead I saw its eyes widen some, almost as if it was curious or worried, before it slow made its way over to me.

Toothless

I was woken by the sound of a scream. Not one of fear, but one of pain. My eyes shot open as I unsheathed my teeth some and got into a defensive position. I quickly identified the source of the disturbance. It was the Viking kid. He was rolling on the ground. I could sense magika surging through him. I loosened my stance some and stood up to my full height, even if it wasn't that much taller. I slowly approached the clearly agonized Viking. He was looking at me. His eyes were full of fear. I don't know if it was because of what was happening to him or because he was scared of me. Truthfully it was probably a combination of both. All I knew is that I needed this kid to calm down. His screaming was starting to give me a headache.

As I got closer, my eyes widened in shock. The Viking's shirt around his left arm was torn to shreds. I could see the unmistakable signs that my magika had some unintended consequences with the Viking child. His entire left arm was covered in… brown scales? His wrist and lower were still mostly black, but the rest was a dark brown. All I knew was that I needed this kid's attention on me. So I did the most logical thing a dragon could do. I placed one of my heavy paws on the kid's chest and let out an ear shatter roar right in his face.

Humans might think that was overkill, but for dragons it was a good way of getting attention. Besides, it worked. The kid was no longer screaming his lungs out and he was staring straight at me. His eyes were as large as the moon. Kind of brought back the memory of when I did the same thing after he freed me. Though this time my intentions were much better.

"Finally…" I muttered, stepping off of the kid before getting a better look at his arm. The rate at which the scales were advancing up his arm and onto his shoulder had slowed tremendously.

"Y-you can talk?" The Viking said. My ears perked up at this. I glanced back at his shocked face.

"You can understand what I am saying?" I asked doubtfully. No human has ever been able to decipher the tongue of the dragons. The kid slowly nodded his head in response. Unintended consequence number two discovered. There was a moment of silence as I inspected the kid's arm further.

"This can't be happening… I am clearly dead… This is some trick by Loki," the human rambled, standing up before pacing some.

I scowled at the human. I thought that maybe my roar had gotten his attention, but it would appear that I was wrong. Maybe if I let him work this out of his system he would be more accepting. As it stands right now, I think he might believe that he is dead or crazy. Possibly a combination of both. I eventually grew tired of it when it became clear this kid was not going to stop anytime soon.

"Will you cut that out!?" I snapped loudly. "You're not dead and no one is playing any tricks on you."

"I'm talking to a dragon, that's not possible. So clearly, I am dead or this is some trick," the Viking responded. I wasn't getting anywhere with this kid…

"That or I did something to you and that caused an unintended side effect where you can understand me," I said, rolling my eyes.

"What… What did you do to me?" The Viking questioned as he stared down at me. His voice was shaking some, but that was understandable given the situation.

"I saved your life," I responded, poking his arm with one of my claws. By now the brown scales had ceased advancing up his arm entirely. "You fell off the cliff when the rocks underneath you gave way. I used most of my magika to heal you."

"Great… you saved my life now just so I could get killed by my own village later…" The kid said. He didn't sound very grateful… "If they see… this," he gestured to his arm, "I am as good as dead anyways."

"I don't know about humans, but when a dragon helps a fellow dragon they usually express some form of gratitude," I said in a rather cross voice. I know I shouldn't be mad at the human. What he said was probably true; should someone see him like that, he would at the very least be run out of his village if I had to take a guess.

"Sorry… I am just a bit worked up right now… I'm usually not like this…" The human started before giving a short laugh. "I mean personality wise of course, because I sure as Hel usually don't look like this."

"At least your sense of humor is intact kid," I said, mildly amused by the Viking's turnaround.

"My name's not kid," The Viking said, a hint of annoyance in his voice. "I'm Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third." Hiccup started before saddening some. "More commonly called Hiccup the Useless though…"

I looked down at the kid. I knew the tone of his voice, loneliness. Something I could greatly empathize with. I don't know why, but I suddenly wanted to hear this kid's, I mean Hiccup's, story. It might have had something to do with the fact that I haven't had a real conversation with another dragon in years where I could actually speak my mind. Sure he was no dragon, but he would have to do for now.

"That… doesn't sound too flattering…" I started, my ears drooping some.

"That's just the name calling part of it," Hiccup elaborated. "Don't even get me started on the bullying, being forced to be alone, constantly being reminded that I am a terrible Viking… even by my own father…"

I honestly felt bad for this Viking. We dragons cared for our weak. The consequences of being unworthy in the eyes of the queen…. Even her control over us couldn't stop us from protecting our own kin. I guess for him, killing a dragon was the only way he could be accepted among his kin. I just happened to be that very unlucky dragon.

"I don't know how much this will mean to you coming from a Night Shadow, but I can relate to that more than you realize…" I said, lying down and resting my head on the grass.

"What do you mean?" Hiccup asked me, tilting his head to the side some.

"The dragons, all of us, are slaves," I answered. "Forced against our will to feed our 'queen' or else she feeds on us."

"That's terrible!" Hiccup exclaimed, looking down at me in shock. "Why don't you all do anything about it?"

"Because we literally can't," I snapped back angrily before taking a deep breath and calming down. "Tell me, how much do you humans know about dragons' abilities?"

"You fly, you breathe fire, you have long stamina, very tough scales," Hiccup listed. He hadn't noticed but the brown scales on his arm had almost completely reverted back to normal. Just his wrist and hand stayed looking like my own. "And I just learned you have the ability to turn humans into dragons."

"Well, if you would actually look at yourself, you're mostly back to normal," I retorted. "And I can honestly say that was never my intention. An… unintended side effect if you will."

"How many 'unintended' side effects have there been so far?" Hiccup asked as he looked over his arm and let out a sigh of relief.

"Just two, that and the fact that you can understand me," I answered.

"Speaking about understanding… how is it that you can understand me?" The Viking asked further.

"Dragons deciphered your language ages ago," I rolled my eyes as I answered. "Makes it a lot easier to fight you if we know what you are doing."

"You know…. That actually explains a lot…" Hiccup said. "Last question I promise."

I nodded my head.

"Is… is this permanent?" He asked, pointing at his now draconic hand.

"Yes…" I sighed, "It was the only way I could get enough magika into you to heal you. That fall put you on the very brink of death."

"I know I said that was my last question but-" Hiccup started before I cut him off.

"What is magika?" I finished for him. Hiccup nodded in response. "It is a force that dwells inside all dragons. While its uses are limited, it makes a dragon much more powerful. It lets us make our attacks stronger, heal our wounds faster, and to move faster. In some unfortunate cases if the wielder is strong enough, enslave an entire dragon nest…."

Hiccup

I never, not in a million years, thought I would ever feel sorry for a dragon. It was unheard of for a Viking to feel anything but hatred for a dragon. And yet after learning about their enslavement, I couldn't help but feel sorry for them. I honestly didn't know what to say at this point. While I considered my life to be bad, I wasn't a slave as the dragons supposedly were. Then again, I didn't have any reason to think that this Night Fury was lying.

"How did you manage to break free?" I asked.

"She actually released her grip on me…" The Night Fury answered, frowning as he did so. "She saw me as no longer useful to the nest and not worth the large amount of magika she used to maintain a hold on me."

"Why did she do that?" I questioned further. So much for the whole 'last question' thing.

The Night Fury let out a low sigh before swinging his tail around in front of me so I could get a better view of it. At first nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but then I noticed something was wrong. His left tail fin was missing. A dragon without a tail fin couldn't fly. And a dragon that couldn't fly was as good as dead.

"I did that, didn't I," I muttered. Before today, grounding a dragon would have been a great accomplishment for me. Yet now… I regretted it. This entire conversation had gone by so fast with so much emotions. I guess I forgot I was talking with a dragon as it had been so long since I had a conversation at this level.

"Yeah… you did," The Night Fury started as he moved his tail back behind him. He didn't sound angry or upset, just sad. "I don't hold it against you, nor am I mad at you in case you were wondering. I almost guess I should thank you. I'm free from the queen's control now because of what you did."

"It seems ironic though," I said. "I took your left tail fin, you took my left hand."

"Ha, well I did that out of an act of mercy while I do believe you were trying to kill me," The Night Fury countered.

"Right…" I sighed before looking down at the ground. "Thank you for that. I know I was upset about it earlier, but I would rather live looking like…this," I looked down at my hand, "than be dead."

"Don't mention kid," The Night Fury said before standing up and stretching out some. Realizing I had been sitting for a while, I did the same. It felt good to stand up. I opened and closed my new claw like hand several times. It felt much as my old hand had. Thinking ahead, if I only had to hide my hand and wrist, I could probably just wear a black glove over it and no one would be the wiser. Since I spent most of my time in the forge with Gobber, that wouldn't be too hard to pull off. That coupled with my long sleeve shirts should conceal it almost completely. Well, not this shirt anymore. Its sleeves was torn to bits.

"So do you know why those brown scales started working their way up my arm when I first woke up?" I questioned. The last thing I needed was to be in the middle of a village full of dragon-killing Vikings then… Well, you get the idea.

"If I had to take a guess, and this really is a completely wild guess, it was because you were so worked up and upset. Probably tied to your emotions somehow. Magika itself is tied to a dragon's emotions. So when your emotions get out of your control, so does the magika. Would also take a crack that you could just change if you wanted to," The dragon answered.

At least he was honest.

I looked up and saw that the sun was setting lower in the sky. How long had I been out? I should probably try and get back to the village soon. As impossible as it seemed, someone might notice Hiccup the Useless isn't to be found. I know, what are the chances of that actually happening? Well, Gobber might notice, but he would likely be the only one.

"I should get back to Berk…" I said as I looked around for a way out of this cove. I spotted a small crack in the canyon walls that had some rocks leading up to it. Hopefully that would prove to be an exit.

"Before you go… can I ask you two questions?" The Night Fury asked.

"Given how many I asked you, I think that it would only be fair," I replied.

"Why did you come back?" He asked with a good amount of curiosity in his voice.

"I guess I wanted to learn…" I started. "We are taught that dragons will always go for the kill. So when you didn't kill me yesterday, it sparked my interest."

"I could smell iron and fish on you when you first approached his morning. I thought that you were going to try and kill me again," The Night Fury said. He almost sounded… ashamed. "As for my second question… Will you come back again?"

"Pardon?" I reeled back from the sudden request.

"I mean… I'm trapped in this cove. Without the ability to fly, I cannot leave. Getting food would be nearly impossible. That… and I actually enjoyed your company. It has been far too long since I had an actual conversation with someone."

"I guess I could… I mean, as of now you are the closest thing to a friend that I have," I smiled some back at the dragon. "I'll come back. Will bring some food for you as well. And I have to agree, it was nice to have a real conversation with someone again. But before I go, what's your name?"

"Night Shadows don't have names," the dragon replied in an uninterested voice.

"Why not?" I inquired, my curiosity once again spiked.

"Tell me, how many others of my kind have you seen?" He asked as he glanced up at me.

"Well… no one has really ever seen a Night Fury before…" I trailed off.

"In that case, I will tell you that I am the only one around. Night Shadows tend to not stay together. Even then, most dragons don't have names. Dragons don't see a need for them unless it is to immortalize an important dragon," the Night Fury explained.

"Well… you stopped me from dying; I would say that important," I started. "How about I give you a name?"

The Night Fury looked at me in shock. At first I thought I had offended it somehow. For all I know I very easily could have just insulted some ancient tradition or dragon god.

"I… I would like that," The Night Fury answered, nodding his head slightly.

"Alright then… from now on, you shall be known as Toothless," I said.

"What? I have teeth though!" Toothless protested, unsheathing his teeth in the process.

"Yeah, but I have hardly seen them at all today," I countered before heading off toward the hole in the cliff walls. "See you tomorrow, Toothless!"

I half expected Toothless to chase me down and force me to name him something else, but he never did. Climbing up the large rocks to where the split in the walls were, I let out a low sigh of relief. There was indeed a way out for me here. At first I pondered telling Toothless about it, but after entering the narrow gap I realized that I barely fit through it. Once I was back at the normal level of the forest, I got my bearings straight based off of the location of the sun and headed back to Berk.

Toothless

A name… while it was silly, it was better than Hiccup. When the Viking first asked me that, I was in a state of disbelief. What I had done was something any dragon with an advanced understanding of magika could have accomplished. I didn't accept his offer because of the pride of having a name or because I didn't want to hurt Hiccup's feelings, but rather because I felt honored by it. He saw me was someone important in his life even if we had just met. To refuse would have been to reject the notion that I was important to him.

Granted, our interaction so far consisted of him shooting me down, making me a cripple, him trying to kill me, then me instilling the fear of the Dragon of the Sky into the boy, him falling off a cliff, me saving his life, then us talking and asking questions for a long… long while. Eh… I have had worse starts to friendships. Just to be clear, those friendships tended to be the ones where I don't need enemies with friends like them.

All that aside, I truly felt I had connected with Hiccup. And I don't mean the literal connection I forced between the two of us when I pumped him full of my magika to prevent him from dying. I looked forward to him visiting tomorrow. Hopefully he would bring food. Like fish! Grand and glorious fish! Oh how I loved fish.

…

Great… now I am hungry again… Where is that fish Hiccup was carrying?

Hiccup

I waited for darkness to descend on the village before I started making my way towards the forge. I knew there were some black leather gloves I could use there to conceal my hand. Thankfully Gobber had quit for the night and getting in undetected was a rather simple task. However, finding the black gloves in the dead of night was going to be rather hard… Or it should have been, but for some reason I could see just fine. They weren't hanging in their usual spot. I looked next to the grinding wheel next but had no luck there either. Maybe by the anvil? Nope, no luck there either. I let out a low sigh before heading towards the room I had in the back. It was where I drew up all my crazy inventions. The ones that tended to get me in trouble and mocked for the next week.

I let out a sigh of relief as I could make out the gloves sitting on my table. I quickly grabbed the left one and slipped it over my draconic hand. It fit nicely and covered up the black scales perfectly. If by chance the glove slipped off a bit and some of them did show, hopefully the scales would just appear as if they were the glove. I snuck back out of the forge and started for my house. Thankfully not many people were out this late and I managed to get home without incident. Upon opening the door however…

"Where have you been?" My dad asked as I closed the door behind me and turned a bit to the side to hide my torn up shirt and gloved hand. "Gobber said you weren't at the forge today."

"I was out in the forest," I answered. "Just exploring and such."

"Why didn't you tell anyone? Gobber spent a good chunk of time trying to find you. And given the recent raid, he was needed working, not wasting time trying to find you," Stoic scolded.

"Well, usually no one cares where I am or what I am doing as long as I am not in their way," I countered, my voice dropping a bit as I did.

My dad went to say something, but I think he knew that I was right. I could also tell he was not in the mood for one of our arguments.

"Just… next time you are going to be gone, let Gobber know so he doesn't waste time looking for you," my dad said.

"Alright," I answered before heading up the stairs. Thankfully my dad didn't notice the glove on my hand nor my ripped up shirt in the dimly lit room. I got to my room and climbed sat on my bed. Today had not been anything like I thought it would be. You would think nearly dying would be the most shocking thing that happened to me, but nope.

I made friends with a dragon. Not just any dragon, but a Night Fury. Well, that and my hand… I really hope I could control it, I don't need my arm turning all scaly again when I am surrounded by people who make a living killing things that had scales on them. Especially if it is going to be as painful as it was this afternoon.

I debated sleeping with the leather glove on or off. Better leave it on, would rather be safe than sorry. Waking up with an axe at my neck would not be all that pleasant, though I doubted my dad would go that far. Screw up or not, I was still his son.

Okay, Chapter 2 complete! I know it was a bit dialogue heavy, but I hope y'all enjoyed it! That and I got some cover art for this story. It is by Yaromeja on deviantArt. Again, thanks for reading and feedback is appreciated!