Chapter 19: Change

The Crimson Fury opened the door and peeked inside. "Toothless, you in here?"

"Yeah," was the discouraged reply from the black form inside. The Night Fury was by the bed in the back, staring at its occupant with worry.

Javelin took care as he came in to not destroy anything by accident. His sister followed suite. "You doing alright?" he asked as he walked to the opposite side of the bed.

Hiccup, despite his situation, looked peaceful. There were only a few bruises on his face, but they would pass in time. Underneath the covers was a different story. Javelin knew that Hiccup had lost his left leg, but he didn't know how much.

Toothless sniffled a bit. "As best as I can be right now." The dragon was picking up Hiccup's sarcasm. He nudged his unconscious friend. "Come on, Hiccup. Please wake up."

"In time, dear brother. In time. He'll wake up... it's just a matter of when."

"But what if he doesn't? What if he doesn't wake up?!" Toothless began to worry. Then a pang of regret hit him. "I did this."

Twilight spoke before her brother could. "What?"

"I did this. I-I couldn't reach him in time, so I grabbed his leg to pull him to me, and... and..."

"Toothless, calm down. Take a deep breath and calm down." Javelin waited until the Night Fury did so. "Now, it is okay to be thinking like this. I have been plagued by depression and regret since I lost my brothers many, many years ago. I went through most of that by myself."

"You saved his life, love, just he did yours," Twilight cut in again.

"Exactly. He will pull through, Toothless. All we can do is wait." Javelin had an idea form. "Sis, how about you take a walk with Toothless. I'll stay here in his stead."

"Alright." Twilight twisted around and went to the door, being careful to not knock anything over. She looked behind her. "You coming, Tooth?"

Said Night Fury looked at Javelin for reassurance. "Go on. He won't be going anywhere," the dragon comforted. Toothless turned and followed Twilight. Javelin watched them leave, then turned to his blood-brother.

"I know you will pull through, brother. It's just a matter of time." He reached a paw over to the boy's head when his vision flashed. Instead of a silver paw, it was an crimson-armored right arm, the fingers running through Hiccup's hair. Then it flashed back to a foreleg.

Javelin pulled his silver limb away and looked at it. "What was that?" he asked himself as he did an examination. Everything seemed fine beneath the scales.

He moved his paw towards Hiccup again. When nothing happened this time, Javelin carefully ran a claw through his blood-brother's hair. He ceased contact when he felt the vibrations of footsteps. Glad to see my tracking has not lost its touch.

Stoick the Vast entered. "I just saw Hiccup's dragon and the other Night Fury leave. Is something going on?"

The Crimson Fury shook his head. "No, sir."

Fortunately, the chief got the gesture part. "Good," he said, making his way towards his son. "Gobber said he'll make the prosthetic soon."

"Good." He took another look at Hiccup, then twisted around to leave. As he got to the door, he made a requesting grumble towards Stoick. He jumped on to the grass and searched for a patch of dirt large enough to write on. He did, and had just finished writing when Stoick came to him.

'Where does Berk stand with me?'

"Well, most of them are alright with letting you stay, some as a refugee. The group against you is small, especially with what you said to them."

'Better than nothing. But I don't know if the same is with my form.'

"What?"

'Just thinking. I changed into a dragon. Surely I can switch back.'

"Perhaps you will, demon."

That title is reserved for my enemies. Bad memories started to resurface. 'Excuse me, sir. I need to be alone for a bit.' With that, Javelin walked off towards the docks.

Fortunately, none of the Vikings interrupted his thinking as he passed them by. He got to the cliff overlooking the harbor and sat down. He took in the two statues in the distance, standing still and breaking the waving seas. Perfect.

He closed his eyes and did his best to shut everything out. The dragon searched for the link that connected him to the Force. Doubts arose after some time, but he did his best to remove or ignore them. In what seemed like an hour, he found it.

The darkness enveloping the edges of his mind were slowly replaced by ghostly electric blue wisps. He followed them to their source, and was met with relief. He had not lost it; it was merely buried.

What am I? Am I dragon or human? Both or neither? What- who am I?

I'm Javelin, of Talon Squad. Straight and true, I fly my path. Anything that happens just happens.

Then what about my body? Am I supposed to be a dragon? Or can I switch between forms?

The same vision he had when he was locked up with Hookfang appeared. The crimson dragon landed, time skipped, and it was replaced with his human body.

Then it flashed back to Dragon Island. The only thing he could feel was pain. Javelin tried to make sense of it, but his mind drew no reasonable answer.

What inside of you has brought you this far?

The dragon was shocked by the sudden question. He searched himself to find the answer.

Inside... that must mean his traits or values. Honor, justice, and family came up as solutions, but they still left emptiness. Undeterred, he pressed on. I will find the answer...

Wait...

Will.

That was the answer. What else pressed him forward when he lost everything, when he felt he had nothing left to live for? Through his injuries, through his memories?

Maybe if he focused on being human. With a deep breath, he concentrated on his objective. Pain rose as he continued, seeking to dissuade him. But he ignored the demands, even when it grew to be intolerable. It soon overwhelmed him, and he lost all his senses.

Same as before...

It was like something tore him into pieces, then slowly stitched him back together. It drilled into his head, forming an irremovable nuisance. With a sudden shock through his body, he opened his eyes.

He was looking straight up at the evening sky, colored in hues of orange and red. His muscles felt as though they were on fire, but part of the feeling was familiar. The jump-start implant he had decided to fire up and wake him. I guess this was a dire situation.

He moved his head and was immediately set upon by a Night Fury. He groaned as the dragon said in a feminine voice, "Thank goodness, you're awake." Twilight's voice sounded like it was echoed into his helmet for some odd reason.

Javelin invisibly smiled. "Nice to see you, sis. Mind getting off? I'm not Crimson anymore." She moved off, allowing her brother to reach his hands up and take off his helmet. He breathed in the fresh air, his lungs happy to not breathe in through the filter. Javelin looked up to see Astrid and Stormfly looking at him in relief. A few others hovered over him, including Stoick, with shock. "Hi."

"So you found a way to change back, did you?" Stoick asked.

Still on the ground, the warrior rubbed his face, taking note of the scales patterned on his neck, the sides of his head, and under his jaw. "I guess so," he replied , chuckling. He got up slowly, ignoring his body's demands for a little more rest. "What happened?"

"Stormfly and I were just coming back from the nest when she saw you changing. You fell off the cliff and she caught you before you landed," Astrid explained.

He looked at the Nadder. "Thank you, then."

"My pleasure, Crimson." Once again, there was that echo in his ear. His helmet was off, so what was it? He remembered and took the hidden device from his ear.

Once again, he smiled. "Okay. I believe most of you had questions for me?"

The people around him were flabbergasted at the sudden comment, not expecting it to come out of his mouth so soon. Then they swarmed him with their inquiries.

"Oh, thank the Force."

Aaron could see the Southwestern Outpost just ahead. The flag draped over the side of the large seastack was still visible in the waning sun. The new symbol for the Shadows, or the Prudiise as some were calling it, was the top profile of a Fury, black at the head and changing to gray to the white tail. Their old dark gray symbol was covered by the dragon's body.

"You know we can keep going," the dragoness beneath him said.

"I know, Myst, but you're still a youngster."

"Oh," she snorted, "like you?"

"Hey, I'm 33, mind you," Aaron retorted.

"Ha! So I'm a few years younger than you. So what?" Myst said as she landed.

The half-wood, half-metal shelter occupying part of the spire opened to reveal another soldier and dragon. They were almost identical in color to the arrivals, the differences a darker shade on both and several black diagonal stripes across the human's chest armor.

"Hahaha. Arguing about age again, are we?"

"Hello, Zeke and yes, we were," Aaron answered in disgruntlement. "Hey, Fog."

"Hey, Aaron," the Cloud Fury responded. He turned to Myst. "He underestimating your abilities again, sis?"

"When is he isn't?"

"He's young and overprotective." Fog shook his head in thought. "Although scared is another good choice."

"I'll cross that bridge if the time comes, thank you very much," Aaron called out. The soldier turned to his brother. "Where's my bed?"

Zeke chuckled. "You should be asking, 'Where's the food?'" He took out a ration bar and tossed to Aaron. "Fog has your fish ready inside, Myst."

"Yay!" The dragoness walked inside to eat her dinner.

Meanwhile, Aaron took a bite out of the bar and instantly regretted it. His face scrunched up tight. "My god. What happened to the standard issue cardboard?" He felt the taste of bad berries on his tongue and held his head in shame and realization. "He came by this morning, didn't he?"

"Yup. Three cases of ration bars replaced with better tasting ones."

"Still too sour." Aaron finished the bar quickly, despite his comment.

Zeke crossed his arms. "Well, he takes complaints to his handiwork like any Hunter."

The younger sibling merely groaned and went inside to sleep.

Fog observed Aaron as he entered the shelter, then shot a look at his rider. "How did Dad get us placed with you two?"

Zeke shrugged. "Either because we're twins or we're a bit irresponsible. I wouldn't worry about it. We do pretty well after all."

"You got a point. They didn't tell why they're back so early."

"I'm sure Aaron will tell us tomorrow morning... or when he wakes up." He got out a pair of binoculars and did his nightly observation of the southern seas.

(AN) - Whew. Sorry if I kept you waiting, guys. One word sums up why I wasn't able to post last weekend: Fallout.

I had a bit of trouble with Javelin and his form-changing, but I didn't know how or where else to put it. Anyways, your comments or reviews are appreciated.

As far as this story goes, there may be only one or two more chapters, but it'll depend on how long I make it. Possibly more if I do the Boneknapper and Gift of the Night Fury, which I am sure you all are definitely waiting for.

Okay, no more spoilers. See you next time.