A/N: Please enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 6

"Hey! I know you're up there!" Hiccup yelled, tensing his shoulders. With still no reply from the Night Fury, Hiccup huffed. "Toothless!" Hiccup waited another couple of seconds for the dragon to respond, anything really—a chirp, a yip, even an angry snarl, as long as Toothless acknowledged the human's presence.

'He can't just ignore me,' Hiccup thought discordantly. 'He can't! He wouldn't do that, I finally found him…' Hiccup's face sunk, his stomach dropping—the dragon had been ignoring him for the past several months, and it finally seemed to sink in. Hiccup stood at the hub of the clearing before the looming rock hedge, a frown to his lips and a quiver to his eyes. Tears began stinging at the corners of his eyes and Hiccup hurriedly brushed them away with a sweep of his hand.

"What is wrong with you?" Hiccup hissed, his hands forming into fists at his sides. He craned his neck and glared upwards, his gaze roving everywhere- without anything to glare at, it was difficult directing his rage. "Do you even know how worried I've been, how exhausted I've become? For a whole freaking month I waited up every night for you to come home—I still do sometimes!" Hiccup hauled in a wad of air, his chest heaving as he frantically tried to keep up with his ragged breathing.

"I never see you anymore!" Hiccup groaned solemnly, his voice cracking. "I don't see you all day unless you're needed for training or something, and even when I do, you…y-you… Show yourself! Come out Toothless, let me see you at least! Please? Buddy?" Hiccup's voice had gone frantic by now, his tone pleading and feeble. He took careful, measured steps towards the rock barricade, placing the palm of his hand against its coarse surface as he tepidly tapped the pads of his fingers along the rock. Hiccup lowered his voice into a breathy whisper. "I wish I knew what I did wrong. Toothless?"

The dragon snarled at the boy's use of his name, and Hiccup stilled, relishing the sound. Even though it was a snarl and not the happy yip he had wanted to receive, Hiccup sighed and placed his forehead against the cool surface of the stone, turning his head to one side. He sagged his shoulders and leaned into the rock, dragging his weight with him.

"We had a summit to go to today, an important one, but it was only practice," Hiccup muttered against the rock wall. "You knew that, didn't you?" Another snarl resounded from the fissure high above, and Hiccup trembled. He still wasn't used to hearing such angry sounding noises, even though he'd been receiving them for nearly four months now. There was a part of him that wanted to forget Toothless on the whole and reciprocate the dragon's rude behavior back to him, a part of him that wanted to take part in the true Viking manner and beat some sense into the dragon, but Hiccup would never do that—he cared for Toothless far too much to do that to him. "I love ya' buddy."

After a few moments of deafening silence, Hiccup swallowed and removed himself from the stone barricade. With a show of resilience, Hiccup loosened his shoulders and looked up.

"Fine!" he bellowed, emotion seeping through his voice. "If you won't come down, I'll come up." With a shaky breath, Hiccup threw his arms out in front of him and grasped a jutting rock ledge. Hiccup carefully lifted his prosthetic limb and gouged the metal tip into a nearby crevice, altogether hoisting himself up. The teen familiarized with the motions and repeated the pattern, and soon he found himself nearly halfway up, his face flushed and warm.

"I'm almost up," Hiccup called, raising his hand to grasp at another jutting piece of rock. Hiccup halted when he heard the dragon move. From the cavern above him, Hiccup heard the clipping of rock being shuttled across the stone ground, either from Toothless' paws or from the swishing of his tail. Hiccup hung still, shifting his fingers into another wider crevice and placed his prosthetic in a deep, gouged groove. Toothless growled up above, loose and guttural, and Hiccup heard him snarl. There was a momentary feeling of fear that hastily rose within the boy, but Hiccup pushed the fleeting emotion away—he wasn't going to be afraid of his best friend.

Right when Hiccup was going to hoist himself up once more, a shadow in the sky blocked out the sunlight and silhouetted the young Viking. Hiccup squealed when Toothless' elongated tail wrapped around his waist and plucked him from the stone wall, and both dragon and Viking descended gradually to the ground. Toothless dropped to all fours and unceremoniously deposited Hiccup to the hard-packed earth, the teen knocking his head against the ground. Hiccup let out a wail and sat up, rubbing soothing circles to the back of his head. He raised his chin and glared across at the dragon, who was busy blasting a cobalt jet of flame into the shape of a circle around his scaly form. The dragon lowered his head and eyed Hiccup, a glower to his black optics, and growled throatily at the teen.

Hiccup parted his lips and turned his head, averting his gaze. He couldn't deny that he was feeling on edge at the moment, as if any little thing would set Toothless off. His shoulders sagged at the thought: having to be afraid of his best friend. It shouldn't have to be like this, Hiccup thought soberly, clenching his fists at his side.

'We're supposed to be joined at the hip,' Hiccup thought, anchoring his gaze back on Toothless. The dragon snarled at the attention. 'We're supposed to be flying over the ocean, eating fish, being lazy when we're supposed to be training."

"I-I…" Hiccup began, tears welling at his eyes. He blinked them away and replaced them with a stern glare. The teen hurriedly got up and righted himself, never leaving Toothless' gaze. The dragon in questioned growled low at Hiccup's motions but remained within the center of his marked territory. "I hate this—I hate having you hate me."

Hiccup let loose a muttered scoff and took a step forward, flinching at the aggravated snarl emanating from Toothless. Hiccup managed to distract himself from the feral look in Toothless' eyes, the way the dragon gnashed his jagged teeth and how his optics narrowed into tapered slits. Hiccup nearly groaned at the sight, realizing that the stance was all too familiar; Toothless had been like that back when they first met, back when Hiccup had been about to plunge a dagger in the dragon's heart.

"I could take it from them, but I can't…I can't take it from you," Hiccup admitted, his face flushing. He had lived nearly his whole life being tormented by the villagers. They called him names, looked down upon him, heck, even his own dad had thought little of him—but Toothless, he hadn't done any of that. At first, the dragon had been hostile, but that had been expected, however when they both started warming up to each other, the rest was like a dream. They did everything together, from flying through the fluffiest wisps of cloud, to lazing the day away in front of a warm fire—Toothless had never judged him, never left his side.

He had made Hiccup feel wanted, loved. They had a connection, he and Toothless, a forbidden friendship that literally tested the bonds of time, and they had both stared death in the face.

"What did I do?" Hiccup cried, stepping closer towards Toothless. The dragon let loose a mighty roar, the shock of the sound startling the teen. Toothless raised on his haunches, spindly hide raised upright while his tail thwacked the earth. Despite the warnings, Hiccup trudged on until he was standing right outside the dragon's marked territory. He was at least two feet away from the Night Fury, so close that he could feel Toothless' warm breath fan across his face. Hiccup sighed, his cheeks flushing, and fluttered his eyes. Hiccup raised his hand and inched it towards the dragon's snout and before he could touch the scaly skin, Hiccup was knocked backwards, the wind knocked out of him.

Toothless stared down at Hiccup, who sat wide-eyed and motionless on the ground. The teens mouth hung agape as he nursed his stomach, quivering eyes planted firmly on Toothless. The dragon snarled, thumping his tail threateningly against the ground.

Couldn't Hiccup understand that Toothless did not want the boy near him at all? Clearly he could have comprehended that, by all means, Hiccup was a smart boy, but hadn't he seen the mark?

It was not to be crossed.

Toothless removed himself from the shoddily drawn circle and padded towards the downed boy, who began to shuffle backwards.

"Stop, I'm sorry!"

The tone of Hiccup's voice shouldn't have affected him so, but it had nonetheless. It was the noted fear in the teen's voice that caused Toothless to snarl in aggravation—he'd never heard Hiccup sound like that before, at least not towards him. Nevertheless, Toothless continued on, wedged head lowered to the ground as he prowled about the young Viking.

Hiccup deserved to feel that way, Toothless reasoned, sneaking a glance at his tail. If it hadn't been for Hiccup, Toothless would still be gliding about the air, free to do as he pleased, reveling in the feel of the wind against his scales, how it shuddered against his great wings- but he couldn't. In order to fly like he used to, he had to have a human ride him. It was demeaning, even thinking about it made Toothless' lips curl in rage. Anger licked at the pit of his stomach, steam rising from his nostrils as he bared his teeth at the trembling boy. This tiny diminutive thing, this pitiable excuse for a Viking deserved to be wiped from existence, but even Toothless wouldn't go as far as doing something so dreadful. He probably would have a long time ago before he met Hiccup, but not now, when he still felt some emotional attachment to the boy though it was fast dwindling as each day passed. Toothless surmised by the end of the year, he'd leave the island somehow, just so he wouldn't have to face the freckled boy who had downed him.

Meanwhile, Hiccup's mind was in a frenzied state. His thoughts were jumbled all over the place, an array of emotions flitting past his eyes. He didn't know whether to feel taken aback or livid at Toothless for swiping at his stomach. The blow had surprised the young Viking until he was left a heaping pile of bewilderment on the earthy floor. Never in the time he knew Toothless had the dragon harmed him in any way.

Hiccup's eyes widened, Toothless' glowering gaze scrutinizing the teen.

Toothless had intended to harm him- on purpose. Hiccup downed his head, wisps of hair brushing across his forehead. No, this was impossible, Toothless wouldn't harm him! Even if the dragon wasn't exactly on friendly terms with the boy, Toothless wouldn't intentionally harm him in any way. Hiccup refused to believe it, he tried pushing the terrible thought to the back of his mind, but the more he let it fester, the more frightened he became. And then, he realized something.

If Toothless could swipe painfully at his stomach on purpose, the dragon could do much worse… on purpose. Hiccup let out a faint gasp and raised his head, catching the impassioned glare of the Night Fury in front of him. The Night Fury whose nostrils were pulled into a flare, who had tendrils of smoke and flame leaking out his snarled lips, whose teeth gnashed together in rage. For the first time since that day he first met the dragon, Hiccup was scared—utterly and completely scared. And Toothless for one, seemed to sense this. Hiccup's breathing became ragged and his heart palpitated at a progressing speed, sweat leaking down his temples and pooling at the crevice of his collarbone. The Night Fury fed on the Viking's fear, practically lapped it up until he could feel it dancing languidly on his tongue.

"Get away from me."

The dragon wasn't expecting that.

Still nursing his bruised stomach, Hiccup quickly dug the heels of his boots into the ground and scuffled backwards, his fingers dashing madly through the compacted earth. The teen hastily picked himself up and backed away, parting his lips and taking a deep inhale of air.

"I'm done," Hiccup breathed, his vision going blurry. He couldn't believe what he was saying, couldn't even fathom why he would. A numbing shudder took over his body as he tried to think of his next sentence. "I don't wanna' do this anymore." And with that, Hiccup whirled around and sprinted off.

Toothless stared at the ground and snorted triumphantly.

A/N: hahhhhhh. I'm such a douche. Please review! :3