"I really did shoot down a Night Fury though!" We were about a block away from my house now and Gobber had been listening to me ramble for about five minutes now. "I just wish he would listen to me."

"Uh huh."

"And when he does listen, he always looks so disappointed in me. Like it's my fault I came out like this." I gestured at myself. "A talking fishbone."

"He doesn't have a problem with how you look. It's the inside that he doesn't like." I think he was trying to make me feel better but he just ended up making things worse. I just frowned at him and opened the door to my house.

"Thank you for clearing that up, Gobber."

"Look, all I'm saying is that if the square doesn't fit in the round hole, don't try to force it."

"Well maybe it wants to fit." I didn't give him time to answer. I just shut the door and left him on the porch. And of course I immediately headed for the back door. I had to find that Night Fury. Once I did, everything would get better.

-

I started from the edge of the old warehouse district and worked my way in. That was the surest way to find it, even if it did take me a while. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but five hours later and aching feet, I was starting to regret it. It was a good thing that it was a weekend. And with everything that had happened last night, my father would probably be busy all night and not return until late morning. That meant that he would probably just think I had gone out for the day. I sat down on the empty streets to take a break. The sun was starting to come up now and I still hadn't found it. I knew that Night Fury was around here. It had to be. I know I hit it. I flipped open the map of the city I had brought with me and marked off the block I had just checked. The warehouse district was right at the edge of town, not far from the forest, which was why we had to abandon it. It was too easy a target for the dragons and cost more than it was worth to keep it up and running. That left plenty of big empty buildings to explore and hide in. Which meant that I had to check every building to make sure that I didn't missed anything. I let out a sigh and looked up at the buildings around me. At this rate, I was never going to find it.

The roof of a building across the street had a hole in the short wall around the edge. Almost as though something had crashed into it... I jumped to my feet and ran across the street. That had to be it. There might have been a lot of dragon attacks here in the past but that damage was too new. And no one came here. Well, maybe some silly kids but that was it. And they certainly weren't able to take off part of a roof. I made sure to stop just before I passed in front of a small alley branching off from the main street. If I was right, then I would find the Night Fury at the end of that alley. I stared at the pile of rubble in the street for a few moments. Oh yeah, that was definitely new. And honestly, I was freaking out some. Calm down, Hiccup. Calm down. I wasn't even sure if it was still there or if it had gotten away. I slowly peered around the corner of the building and spotted a small black form halfway down the street. I pressed myself to the wall before I got a good look.

"I hit it... I hit it! Haha!" I shouted before clamping my mouth shut. I was too excited but I actually hit it! Things were going to be so much better now! Once I killed it that was. I was about to kill my first dragon... Wow.
I looked around the corner again. Admittedly, it was a lot smaller than I expected. I could have sworn that the thing I saw last night was bigger. But then again, no one had ever seen a Night Fury before so who was I to say. I stared at it long and hard to see if it was still moving. When it didn't, I went ahead and started towards the beast, knife at the ready. It was a lot more nerve wracking that I thought it would be. I spared a few glances around before I got there. It looked as though it had crashed into the building's fire escape on it's way. It did a number to it too, the second story landing as smashed inward and the thing as a whole was having trouble staying attached to the side of the building. I wouldn't be surprised if it fell off in the next storm.

As I got closer, I noticed some things. For one, it wasn't a dragon. It was a boy. Which made things infinitely more difficult. I focused in on his face first, watching to see if his eyes were open. He looked about my age. With tan skin and slicked back black hair. It was hard to think of it that way. That the fire breathing beast that had been terrifying us for the last five years was just a kid. The rest of him wasn't much better. He wasn't big or terrifying. I mean, he was small and thin and wore all black, right down to the black skater shoes. He was without a doubt the Night Fury though. He was so tangled in my net that his arms were pinned to his side and across his chest and his legs were trapped in an uncomfortable position. He probably got that way when he crashed into the fire escape. Maybe even afterwards, if he tried struggling against it. I wished he hadn't changed back into a human. Maybe he thought it would make me have mercy. Or maybe he just wasn't thinking straight but I wish he were still a dragon. That would have made things so much easier. My moment of triumph was turning into terror. I wasn't sure if I could kill the dragon anymore. Not like this.

When I looked at his face again, his eyes were open, and they were staring right at me. Scales had started sprouting around his hair line and along his cheeks and even his bone structure had changed some, turning just slightly sharper and farther forward. And his eyes weren't human. They were too big and there was too much iris. Too much green. And slitted pupils like a snakes'. It should have made things easier. It made him less human, more like the beast I heard about. It didn't though. He didn't shout. He didn't beg. He didn't say a word. He didn't show any expression at all. He just stared. Not glare, just stared. And I just stared back. Because the longer I looked, the more I could see that he was terrified. I had to do it though. It would fix everything, right?

"I'm going to kill you. I'm gonna do it." I shifted the knife into position. "I'm going to cut out your heart. I'm a Viking. I am a Viking, you hear me!" I raised the blade over my head. Why did he have to watch me? Why did he have to look human? Obviously god hated me. I caught myself looking at him and turned away. I needed to focus. I had to have my target or else I might do it wrong. And after all, it wasn't like this was a human being anyways. I gave him another quick look. The dragon part of him had crept in more, making his mouth just a little bit to wide, his skin rougher. He wasn't human. He was a dragon, a- a fire-breathing monster that was responsible for the deaths of countless Vikings. I was a Viking! Those were my people he killed! I had to do this! He deserved this! He closed his eyes and relaxed, like he had just accepted that he was going to die. Every bit of determination I had somehow managed to muster disappeared. I couldn't do it.

I let the knife drop to my side and stared at him again. At his pinned limbs. I could see bruises starting to form along one side of his face too. And I did that. I hurt him. He still didn't look human, not completely, but he looked pitiful and defeated and trapped. It wasn't right. I started to cut through the rope that he managed to tangle himself in. He immediately tensed, knowing what was going on. I ignored it and kept cutting. If he wanted to kill me after this, fine. But I wasn't going to kill him. And I wasn't going to leave him trapped here either. It took a while before the net really started to loosen up. I wasn't giving myself time to think about it. I just kept cutting and cutting. Right up until he spun out of the ropes and tackled me to the ground. His face was close enough to mine that all I could see was his eyes and feel his breath. I couldn't get a read on him. I had no idea what he was going to do or what he was thinking. Or why he hadn't completely turned into a dragon and blown me off the face of the earth. I just knew I was terrified and every bit of it was showing on my face. His forearm pressed against my throat certainly wasn't helping either.

We stayed like that for what seemed like forever before he finally did something. The pressure on my neck increased and I was sure he was going to kill me. Instead, he jumped back a second later and tried to run. He made it two steps before his leg buckled under him and he went down. I didn't have to guess why. I could hear the crunch. Even when his leg broke, he didn't make a sound. He just crouched on the ground, obviously trying to keep it together. He tried again after just a moment or two but his left leg wouldn't bend. It was stuck and trying to make it move only made things worse since he went down again, this time letting out a very quiet hiss of pain. It was more than just a broken leg he was dealing with. And I'm the one who did it.

I was possibly the dumbest, craziest Viking because instead of running away while I had the chance, I got up and helped him into the nearest building. Thankfully for me, he was in too much pain to realize what was going on before passing out halfway there. So much for fixing everything.