Welcome back! Sorry for the long wait. College and my main story kind of took over, so please forgive me for the massive delay. I did not intend on waiting this long. Once again, I would like to thank everyone for the reviews, favorites, and follows. Means a lot to me that you find my little story interesting and likable. Not much else to say other than I made a few changes to chapter 2. Nothing major so don't feel as if you have to reread it.

EDIT: 9-24-17

Last of the revisions I am planning on making. Again, shouldn't be anything too different.

Hiccup

When I had first woke up the following morning, the day before had all seemed like a dream. The glove on my left hand swiftly reminded me that it wasn't a dream. That the previous day had indeed actually happened in all of its gritty details. I wasn't sure if I should be excited that it wasn't a dream… or afraid. On one side, I now had someone I could talk and relate to. Someone who could grow into a friend, if that was possible. The reverse of that being that I was now, for the time being at least, part dragon… in a village that made a living out of killing dragons…

I could hear words in the snarls and roars of dragons, and I could see much better than any human should have been able to in the dark. My left hand was no longer that of a human, but that of a Night Fury. And these are only the effects I knew of. I don't know why, but I feel as if there will be more to come. That this whole ordeal is just the beginning of something else entirely.

With my brain trying to catch up on all this, I shook my head to clear my thoughts. As time passed, the situation would start to clear itself up, at least I hoped it would. Swinging my feet over my bed, I got up and started getting ready for a new day. After quickly changing into a fresh pair of clothes, that did not include a shredded shirt, and grabbing my notebook, I started down the stairs. My dad was gone as per usual in the mornings to complete his duties as chief. I wanted to get back to the cove as soon as possible. But first I had to let Gobber know I was going to be out. Given how he was one of the friendlier Vikings, in tolerating my existence, I thought it would be reasonable to honor my dad's instructions to let him know that I wasn't going to be around.

As I approached for forge, I could hear the sound of metal clashing against metal. I hated to say it, but it was giving me a bit of a headache. Which was very unusual as I am normally right next to Gobber helping him and never really had this happen before. Maybe it was from the lack of water I had yesterday. The smell of the smoke from the fire also seemed to be a lot stronger than usual. Either Gobber was doing some serious forging or I was finding out more 'unintended' side effects. I am beginning to think that it might be more towards the later… Hopefully Toothless will have some answers. However, based on what he said yesterday, I doubted that would be the case.

"Hey Gobber," I said as I rounded the corner and stepped into the forge. Gobber ceased his hammering for a moment, much to my head's relief.

"Mornin' Hiccup, I see you came to join me today," Gobber started, glancing over at me. Either he didn't see the glove on my hand or didn't think anything of it.

"Right… actually I just wanted to let you know I was going to be out in the forest," I replied. Gobber did not look amused.

"Right… And what might you be up to, eh?" Gobber asked before returning to his work.

A sharp pain range through my head with each blow of his hammer. I honestly thought my head was going to explode if I stayed around much longer.

"Not much, just exploring the forest. Thought maybe it would be a good form of exercise for me," I said. While not necessarily completely true, it wasn't one hundred percent lie.

Gobber seemed to ponder what I had said. I hoped that he would give me the day off. Usually it didn't matter all that much, but because of the recent dragon raid there was a lot of work to be done.

"Eh, while there is work to be done, I think you might be onto somethin'. Even after years working here you haven't bulked up much. Seeing as how your mind is already made, I don't think there is much reason to stop ya. But tomorrow I want you work'n here! Got a lot that needs to get done!" Gobber replied, much to my relief.

"Thanks Gobber, you're the best!" I said before sprinting off toward to woods. Once again I stopped and grabbed a fish, seeing how the one I brought yesterday probably got squashed flat by a boulder.

I will say that the forest seemed much more alive than it ever has in the past. Even though I had been among these trees many times before, today it seemed like I was entering them for the first time all over again. I could hear everything around me. The birds in the trees, the insects in the grass, and the sheep in the pastures, all of the sounds almost overpowered me before they seemed to tune themselves out again.

As I ran towards the cove that Toothless was trapped in, I started thinking about my hand and how the scales had crept up my arm. I wondered what would happen if they didn't stop there. Would I turn into some sort of dragon hybrid freak? Maybe just straight up turn into a dragon. If I had to choose, it was definitely the latter of those two options. Vikings have seen dragons before, while they tend to kill dragons on sight I bet my odds were better as a dragon than some scaly human looking thing. When you live in a region like this, Vikings tend to kill first, ask questions later. Especially when most unknown things here are trying to eat you for breakfast.

It didn't take long, much shorter than last time in fact, for me to reach my destination. I quickly went down the narrow path I found yesterday that lead to the bottom of the cove. Most of the cove was covered in shade due to the combination its steep walls and the early morning sun. Even then a few rays of sunlight made it down into the tranquil cove. A few birds flew around, singing their songs before flying deeper into the forest. I started looking around for Toothless as I entered into the peaceful hideaway.

"Toothless?" I called out, holding onto the fish.

My ears twitched as I heard a swooshing sound. I started to turn my head towards the noise, but was tackled to the ground before it could happen. To my surprise, there was a rather fierce looking Night Fury sitting on top of me, holding me pinned to the ground. His eyes were narrowed and looked as if he could end my life at any second. I almost thought that something had happened, that the queen Toothless had spoken so foully of had reasserted control over him and now he was going to kill me.

"Heh, you're too easy," Toothless said with a laugh before getting up off of me. "Going to have to fix that."

"Oh hardy har har," I said as I let out a breath I didn't realize I had been holding and pushed myself off the ground and back onto my feet. "To think I brought you food and that is how you repay me."

I saw Toothless' hears perk up when I said food. His head snapped back towards me as he eyed the fish that he had missed in his excitement earlier. He started stalking closer to me, his body low to the ground. Not wanting to be between a ravenous dragon and its food, I decided it would be in the best interest of my health to give Toothless the fish as soon as possible. Acting quickly, I threw the fish into the air towards the Night Fury.

Toothless leapt into the air almost instantaneously. The fish never even came close to the ground before it disappeared inside the jaws of the Night Fury. Toothless made a few quick, short bites before swallowing the fish down in one swift motion. When Toothless had finished, he looked over back at me. I could clearly see in his eyes that he wanted another.

"Sorry Toothless, only brought the one fish," I said somewhat sheepishly rubbing the back of my head with my gloved hand, reminding me to take it off.

"Ugh…. Why only one?" Toothless replied, rolling his eyes as he came closer to me.

"Well… I don't know how much dragons eat. One whole fish is usually more than enough for one human," I retorted as I pulled off the glove that covered my scaled covered left hand.

"Humans are rather lazy beings compared to us dragons," Toothless replied as he followed next to me. "We burn energy a lot faster than you do."

"Fair enough," I relied as I walked further into the cove. "I will say that his cove is rather beautiful."

"Yeah… A beautiful prison…" Toothless said somberly, his ears drooping down as he looked at the grass below him.

I could feel the waves of sadness rolling off of Toothless as a pang of regret surged through me. Toothless had lost the one thing that dragons valued above all else because of me. I joined him in looking down at the green grass below our feet, or claws in Toothless' case.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled in a barely audible breath.

Toothless

My ears perked up upon hearing Hiccup mumble his apology. I let out a low sigh as I turned my head skyward. A few birds were flying about this morning, obviously trying to find some food for themselves and their hatchlings. After a bit, I turned my head towards the human next to me. He looked like… well, like he wished he could undo what he had done to me.

"Hiccup… don't worry about it," I started in a calm voice. The young, hornless Viking turned his head towards me as I continued. "If I had to choose between losing my ability to fly and being free from the queen or being able to fly but still being a slave, I would give up my flight every time. It wouldn't be an easy decision, but it would be one I wouldn't regret."

I paused for a second, listening to the gentle breeze rustle the leaves of a nearby tree and looking up at the cloud that had moved between us and the sun before continuing.

"I would rather be stuck here than be a slave to the queen. So…" I paused for a moment, "I forgive you. I may be flightless, but I am free. I may be stuck here, but I have made a friend. So thank you for freeing me."

Upon finishing, I looked back at Hiccup to see how or if he would respond. I don't know what he thought I was going to say, but based on his facial expression it clearly wasn't what he expected.

"I… I don't know what to say," Hiccup replied. "I mean, I took away your ability to fly, your very livelihood as a dragon. How can you just forgive me for that?"

"As I said, I will miss being able to soar through the skies but it will be worth it. A heavy price for freedom, but one I am willing to pay. So I will ask you not to beat yourself up over the loss of my tailfin. It is in the past now and nothing can undo it."

I watched Hiccup as what I said sunk in. He appeared to be deep in thought as he stared at the sky. Suddenly his head snapped towards me before he pulled out… well I didn't know what it was.

"What's that?" I questioned, looking with curiosity at the rectangular, brown object.

"My notebook," Hiccup answered as he started using a stick with a pointed, black stone on the end to do something in his 'notebook.' "Just stay still for a second."

I cocked my head sideways momentarily, wondering what the small human was doing. Nonetheless, I complied with his wish. It wasn't like I had anything better to do at the moment. After a few minutes, Hiccup spoke again.

"Alright, you can move again," Hiccup said as he set down the stick he had been using.

"What were you doing?" I asked as I wandered over next to Hiccup.

"Drawing a detailed sketch of you," Hiccup replied.

I looked at him blankly. Not one word of that made a lick of sense to me. My confusion was obviously written all over my face as Hiccup rolled his eyes and turned his 'notebook' towards me. Upon looking at it, I saw what looked exactly like me. A sketch as Hiccup called it.

"This is a sketch?" I inquired, inspecting the notebook further.

"Yep!" Hiccup replied, quite proud of his accomplishment.

"What's it for?" I pressed on, trying to learn more about what the hornless Viking was planning. I noticed that he had drawn my tail and its remaining fin to greater detail off to the side of the main sketch.

"Building you a new tail fin," Hiccup answered. "I should be able to make you a new fin of some sort. One that will let you fly again."

My jaw dropped there for a second. I must have misheard him. Surely he didn't say he was going to restore my ability to fly. That was crazy talk...

…

Yet it did sound appealing; very appealing.

"Did you say… that you could make it so I can fly again?" I questioned, hoping that I had not misheard the human. Yet I must have as there was no way to make me fly again. Then again, humans were creative creatures.

"Well… in theory I should be able to," Hiccup said, rubbing the back of his head with his claw.

Before Hiccup could react, I was on top of him and had pinned the human to the ground. My long tongue quickly cover his entire front side in dragon salvia.

"Toothless!" Hiccup shouted out with a mixture of surprise and laughter. After a few good licks, the small Viking was covered from head to toe and trying to catch his breath from laughing. "Alright that's enough, Toothless!"

I relented my thankful and energetic assault and stepped off of Hiccup. A small laugh escaped my mouth as I stared at my handiwork. Perhaps I had gone a bit overboard in my excitement. To put it bluntly, Hiccup looked a bit… ridiculous right now. His hair was pointing straight up at the front and this clothes were soaked.

"Oh yeah, laugh it up now buddy," Hiccup said, rolling his eyes at me.

"Sorry, I got a bit lost in my excitement there…." I replied, though my sincerity might have been lost as I was still smirking.

"Really? I didn't notice," Hiccup replied sarcastically.

"Do you think I will be able to fly again?" I asked in a low voice after several seconds of silence.

"I'll try my best to make it so. I took flight from you; I will give flight back to you," Hiccup answered sincerely.

"Thank you… You do not know how much that means to me," I replied, bowing my head ever so slightly at the human before me.

Hiccup

"By the way," I started, "I think I may have found out some more 'unintended side effects' as you call them."

I saw a worried look appear on Toothless' face.

"What do you mean?" He asked, sounding somewhat concerned.

"It's nothing serious, but I noticed I could see in the dark very well last night, too well for a human. That and this morning while at the forge for a bit, I could smell things from farther away than usual and that loud noises started giving me a headache like none I have had before."

"Hmm… If I didn't know you were talking about yourself, I would have guessed you were talking about a dragon," Toothless sighed. "It seems my magika has had far greater consequences than I had imagine. You have my apologies Hiccup."

"It's fine Toothless. I'm an inventor; I will adapt and overcome. It's what I do," I said, tapping my head with my draconic claw before pausing for a bit. "I don't think you will know the answer to this, but what would have happened to me if those scales hadn't stopped at my shoulder yesterday? Would I have turned into a full dragon like you?"

"If I had to guess, that would be correct. I can say that whatever happened would only be temporary or last as long as you willed it to. You will always be you. You are human at your core and no amount of magika will change that," Toothless answered before his face turned slightly more serious and stared into my eyes. "However, the only way to know for sure is to let the change continue and experience it for yourself."

"So… you are saying I should willingly turn into, we hope, a dragon…" I continued.

"Hiccup," Toothless started with a big, happy grin on his face, "If you do turn into a dragon, I can guarantee you will love flying."

I'm not sure exactly what, but something about what Toothless said seemed to make up my mind for me. I would be lying if I said I didn't envy the birds, and yes the dragons as well, for their ability to fly through the skies. So the idea of being able to fly myself… that did sound immensely appealing.

"Well… it would put myself in a situation to learn more about how you fly and fix your tail up," I mused, trying to give myself a legitimate reason to go through with this experiment. "Count me in."

"So you will make it so I can fly again and as payment I will teach you how to fly along with the other bits of how to be a dragon," Toothless said, leaning his head forward.

"Ummm…" I stood there for a few seconds unsure of what to do.

"Oh, right… You aren't familiar with dragon culture. I should probably explain…" Toothless started, somewhat embarrassed at having acted without explaining his actions, "When dragons agree upon a deal they press their foreheads together. A small, and I mean small, magika exchange takes place as a sign of trust. In your current state, placing your claw on my forehead should suffice."

"Oh, alright," I said before placing my claw on Toothless' forehead. I felt a small shock jump between us upon feeling Toothless' scales with my own. It didn't hurt or anything, just felt a bit weird. Like what happens when you touch a metal door handle after getting out of bed on a cold day.

"It is complete," Toothless said as he pulled his head back, and I pulled my hand back. "So shall we start?"

"Might as well," I said before pulling my shirt and pants off leaving me in just my undergarments. No sense in having my clothes shredded like last time. I shivered some as most of my skin was exposed to the cold, northern air. "So what should I do?"

"This will be a first for me as well, but if I had to guess you should focus on the magika in your hand. Try and force it to expand to the rest of your body. Well… perhaps force is the wrong word… Allow to flow, or guide it would be more appropriate. Nothing with regards to magika should ever be forced except for a few rare occasions," Toothless elaborated. I nodded my head, understanding what he was trying to communicate.

With Toothless' instructions in mind, I closed my eyes and started focusing on my left hand, err, claw. I wasn't exactly sure what I should be looking for but given how powerful this magika was supposed to be, it shouldn't be too hard to find. Sure enough it didn't take me long to find it, and when I did I let out a startled gasp. I didn't know what I was expecting the magika to feel like, but it certainly wasn't this. It felt like… well, home. A home I never had, where I was accepted. It felt like peace. I did the only logical thing I could think of and embraced it. I embraced the magika and let it flow through me.

If the feeling of just finding the magika was welcoming, then actually having it flow through me felt like Valhalla. I opened my eyes and looked down at my left claw. Already the brown scales from before were advancing up my arm. However, this time it was not accompanied by the searing pain as it had last time. Instead there was a much milder pain, one that I hardly noticed with my mind focused on the magika surging through me. It still felt massively weird as my skin changed and my bones restructured. Taking a quick glance over at Toothless, I saw him watching with a look of amazement plastered across his face. I wondered what this transformation looked like from his perspective.

Looking myself over, I saw that brown scales covered most of my body while black scales covered my hands and feet. That was when I started glowing. I was forced to close my eyes as the brightness rapidly increased. There was a sudden, sharp increase in the moderate pain I had feeling, almost as if someone had pinched me. Moments later I felt myself landing unceremoniously on the ground with a flop. I groaned as I opened my eyes again and saw that my face was in the green grass of the cove.

"That… was weird, yet amazing at the same time," I managed to say in a barely audible voice. Though it didn't sound like my voice and my words didn't really sound like words. They sounded like Toothless' barks, yips, and all the other noises he made that I could somehow hear words in.

"Wow," I heard Toothless say as he came closer to me. "You certainly look unique."

I managed to push myself to my feet, though I didn't feel that much taller. Shaking my head to clear the grogginess that temporarily occupied it. That was when everything rushed back into my head.

"Did it work?" I asked, still trying to get my bearings straight.

"Are you feeling alright?" Toothless questioned, concern audible in his voice. "Why would I say you look unique if it didn't work?"

"Sorry, just feeling a bit light headed right now," I answered, giving my head one final, strong shake. With that finished, my mind finally cleared completely. I looked down at one of my claws and started examining my body. To put it simply, I was a Night Fury. The more complex observation was that I was indeed unique as Toothless had stated. Then again, no one had ever seen another Night Fury. For all I knew, there could be another Night Fury without black scales. Then again, that was unlikely. Besides, I was not the dragon expert here.

All four of my claws were a night black color while the rest of my scales, or at least the ones I could see, were a dark brown with a few patches of black scales scattered about. I started towards the pond that was in the cove, intending to look at my reflection. My first few steps took a bit getting used to, but once I was halfway to my destination I had the hang of it. The first thing I noticed upon gazing at my reflection were my eyes. While they had always been green, they were now a much darker shade of green. Lifting up one of my claws, I dipped in in the cool water and watch the ripples spread out around it distorting my image.

"So… I assume Night Furies are normally black like you are," I said after a few seconds of looking myself over.

"If by Night Fury you mean Night Shadow, then yes," Toothless answered, walking up next to me.

"Night Shadow?" I asked.

"That is our race. You humans call us Night Furies; we call ourselves Night Shadows as we blend in with the night sky," Toothless explained. "Though you appear as if you would blend in more with the forest than the night sky."

"What do you think caused the difference?" I inquired, looking over at the black dragon next to me.

"I honestly haven't the slightest of clues," Toothless said, "Could be anything from brown head fur to the fact that you are human.

"So what do we do now?" I questioned, eager to learn more. Though I had to suppress a laugh at Toothless calling my hair 'head fur'.

"Well, teaching you to fly will take several days, if not weeks depending on how easily you pick it up. In the meantime I think explaining how our tail fins work would be in your best interest," Toothless responded, a hint of eagerness creeping into his voice. "But first, let's make sure you are used to that body of yours."

"How do you recommend doing that?" I questioned, growing slightly worried at the smirk that had appeared on Toothless' draconic face.

Without warning, Toothless turned around and smacked my head with his remaining tail fin before running off to another part of the cove.

"I believe you humans call it tag," Toothless happily shouted over his shoulder with a small laugh.

I smirked as I saw what Toothless was up to. If it was a game he wanted, it is a game he will get. Sadly, running on four legs is not the same as running on two legs. My feet quickly got tangled below me before my face planted itself in the grass. Pushing myself back to my feet, I decided to try again, but a bit slower this time. I started normally walking in the direction Toothless had run. Said Night Fury was currently laughing at my misfortune as I increased the speed at which my claws moved.

"It would appear you still have your work cut out for you," Toothless said as I got closer before darting off at a speed I currently couldn't hope to match.

"I have been a dragon for all of five minutes!" I countered, almost tripping again but managed to recover. "At least I am managing as well as I am!"

"True, you are doing quite well," Toothless said, jumping up onto a ledge. "I wonder if my magika is acting as some sort of instinct for you to follow. Then again, it usually only takes a few minutes for a newly hatched Night Shadow to take its first steps."

"So you're saying I am on par with a newly born dragon. Yippee…" I sighed while rolling my large draconic eyes, sarcasm ripe in my voice.

"I didn't say that," Toothless started, jumping into the air before spreading his wings and gliding for a bit. "You're doing better than a youngling would. They usually don't start running around till at least a week since they hatch."

I tried to mimic Toothless' action and jumped up onto the ledge. It wasn't quite as graceful as he was and I had to claw my way up for the last bit. Without the slightest of clues on how to actually fly or glide, I decided to just wing it and see what would happen. What was the worst that could happen?

Toothless

I watched as Hiccup followed me and bound onto the ledge I had previously been occupying. He didn't quite make it in a single bound and had to use his claws to pull himself up the last bit, but it was still a decent jump. As for what happened next, I wasn't sure if I should be horrified or greatly amused. I say horrified because it looked like Hiccup was going to try and glide like I had. Which would only end in disaster. Though it would be amusing to see him fail epically.

Oh and epically fail he did.

Hiccup leapt into the air and spread his wings. Not even a second later did the new dragon suddenly turn down towards the ground and face planted with a loud yelp. I both grinned in amusement and winced in pain. Sure it was funny, but Hiccup was my friend right? I shouldn't laugh at him getting hurt. I started trotting over to where he was lying on the ground, clearing not intending on standing up.

"You alright?" I asked as I came up next to him.

"Not my best idea…" Hiccup groaned out, attempting to rub his head with his claws.

"No kidding," I started, rolling my eyes. "I mean, did you really think it would be that easy?"

"Well you made it look easy…" Hiccup mumbled his response.

"That's because I have been flying for years. Of course it's easy for me," I replied, unsure if I should admonish Hiccup for his reckless decision. Thankfully the ledge wasn't that high up and it was a rather short fall. If it had been much higher things could have been very different.

"Just don't try that again until I actually start teaching you. That could have resulted in you seriously injuring yourself," I said with a sigh.

"I understand…" Hiccup replied. "Sorry for worrying you."

"Worrying me? I thought it was quite humorous actually," I countered with a smug smile.

Hiccup looked up at me looking rather irked. His tail quickly came around and slapped me across my face.

"You're it!" He shouted as he ran off away from me, though his movement was rather awkward from his fall.

I stood there stunned for a second before grinning. The hunt was on. I quickly bound after Hiccup easily catching up to him before leaping into the air and landing on his back. Hiccup instantly collapsed to the ground from the sudden increase of weight. I leapt off of the downed dragon, making sure to push him further into the grass. After landing, I turned around and faced Hiccup with a large smirk.

"I do believe you are it again," I said, quite proud of myself. Hiccup sprang toward me in an attempt to redeem himself. Unfortunately for him, I was standing in front of a tree. So when I nimbly dodge his attack he smacked face first into said tree.

"Oh there is much to teach you," I started. "You might be older than a hatchling, yet you have just as much to learn."

"So you're saying I am a hatchling again?" Hiccup asked, shaking his head some.

"In a way you are hatchling as this is your first time as a dragon. Everything about this is new to you and you are learning as you go," I continued, walking in a steady circle around the brown and black Night Shadow. "I will say that you are taking this remarkably well. No freaking out or anything this time. I didn't actually think you would go through with actually trying to see what would happen if you unleashed the magika inside you this soon."

"Well… what you said about flying caught my attention," Hiccup said, sitting down and looking up at the sky. "I always thought it would be cool to fly. To be free of the ground and be able to soar through the sky. So when you said that I figured it would be worth the risk. Besides, if it went wrong it's not like I would miss much back home…"

A somber mood settled over the two of us as we were both reminded of our current dilemmas. The fact that I could not fly and that Hiccup was… disliked among his own people.

"Things will get better for us," I started, walking over and sitting next to Hiccup. "I may not be able to fix the issues you have back home, but I will always be here for you."

Hiccup looked over at me with a few tears in his eyes. There was a faint smile on his draconic muzzle. I raised up one of my claws at set it on his shoulder.

"I don't believe in coincidences, we were fated to meet via the will of the Dragoness of the Ocean," I continued confidently. "As I said, I will always be here for you when things get rough or out of hand."

"Thank you…" Hiccup choked out, bowing his head toward me.

"You are welcome, Hiccup," I replied bowing my head towards his as well.

We sat there in silence for what felt like hours, just enjoying the presences of the other. Knowing that we each had someone we could turn to for help after years of isolation and loneliness. After a while, Hiccup subconsciously reverted back to his human state in a flash of light similar to before, the only sign that he had been a dragon moments ago were the black scales on his left hand. For reasons unknown to me, Hiccup's face flushed red before he ran over to where his… I think he called them clothes, were located.

Humans… they are a strange bunch.

Okay. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It is the longest yet for this story, but not the longest I have written (that honor goes to 13,660 word mega chapter in my other story). I certainly had fun writing this chapter. I should also announce that Jack Storm 448 will be beta reading this story for me from this point onward. He, like me, comes from the Pokémon section of this site, but I would fully recommend his stories if you find the time or want to try something new. Thanks for reading, Merry Christmas, and God Bless!