Sorry for the delay. I suddenly got swamped between bad news at work, school starting again soon, and getting sucked into reading other fanfictions. Again, do not worry about me abandoning this story. JarJarBlinx1 and I have already finished the whole thing so now it's just a matter of me finding the time to edit as best I can.

Brown eyes blinked open slowly, the teen wincing at the light around him. Where am I? He looked down, confused, when his fingers encountered soft furs instead of the ice he knew he'd fallen asleep on. Jack rolled onto his side and pushed his upper half up so he could see the room better. Wherever he was the walls were made of dark wood and covered in papers full of schematics and drawings and maps. In the corner was a table covered with an array of foreign objects that instantly caught his curious gaze. Jack carefully sat up and moved his legs over the side of the bed. He didn't know how but he was wearing some sort of clothing he hadn't been before. Pale toes wiggled, reassuring their owner that they still worked. After a deep breath to bolster his courage, Jack pushed himself up onto his legs for the first time. They weren't very stable, wobbling profusely before dumping him onto the floor with a thump.

"Whoa there!" Two thin arms reached out and helped Jack to stand again. Brown eyes returned his gaze, and he smiled. "Hi."

"H-hi," he choked out when his voice got caught in his throat. Jack found himself looking at the very green-eyed two-leg he'd encountered on the ship. No amount of attraction he might have had for him was important when he felt his legs try to give way again. He clung desperately to the other teen.

"Steady there! Man, you must have really had a rough time out there. I'd carry you, but I'm…" the boy shrugged. "I don't have big muscles or anything."

"Don't...worry about it!" Jack let out a very unmasculine squeak when he started to fall again. Luckily he managed to aim for the bed this time.

"Hey, you're almost as bad as me!" The boy smiled and helped Jack settle himself on the bed. "The name's Hiccup, by the way."

"Jack." He gave a grateful nod when he was once again sitting firmly on the furs. "What is this place?"

"Berk. Plain, boring, cold Berk."

"Doesn't seem so plain to me by the looks of these pictures." Jack's smile returned as he looked closer at some of the pages. "How did I get here?"

"I drew those. I've been mapping out all the islands." He picked up a golden piece of paper and unfolded the large cluster of sheets on Jack's lap. "I was...passing by, and I saw an orca calf acting weird. I went to investigate and there you were. I kidnapped you and brought you here." His teeth showed in a half-smile. "I'm kidding. I didn't kidnap you."

"Wow. You've visited all these places?!" Jack's eyes widened as he took in all of the different islands and the dragons drawn alongside them.

"Yeah! Do you not travel very often?" Hiccup grunted as a big, black head knocked against his back. "Gee, great. Way to interrupt, bud." Hiccup gave Jack a look. "Jack, this is Toothless. Toothless, this is Jack." The dragon's tongue lolled out and it swiped across Jack's face.

The former merman jumped in shock and fell off the bed before he could catch himself. He lay on the ground in shock, his face still dripping in dragon slobber. "Dragon," he whispered to himself. There's an actual, big dragon.

Hiccup pushed at Toothless' head while the dragon was nuzzling at him. "Sorry about that. He gets excited when he meets new people."

"N-no problem. It's fine." His hand came up to touch the side Toothless had licked, his face instantly screwing up in disgust. "Ewww."

"He's not that bad. Probably could do with a bath but he refuses to behave."

"How do you get this stuff off?" The more he wiped, the more it felt like it was getting stickier. Jack carefully got up onto his knees by relying heavily on the bed. "Can I touch him?"

"Oh, yeah! He's friendly, although he really likes covering people in slobber, so you might get gross."

"Aren't I already covered?" Jack grinned before reaching out to gently run his hands over Toothless' head. "He's magnificent."

"Thanks. He's a Night Fury."

"A Night Fury? What's that?" He looked at Hiccup curiously.

"You must not be from around here if you don't know what a Night Fury is." Hiccup got a book from off the table and plopped back down next to Jack, opening it between them. He flipped through some pages until he reached a pair. "This is all we really know about them. They're rare. Toothless is the first anyone has ever really seen."

"Really? And what are these pictures supposed to be?" He pointed at the runes around the drawing of the Night Fury.

"That's writing. It's a description of what was once known about a Night Fury." Hiccup pointed to a cluster of sloppily drawn runes. "I wrote this part."

"Writing?" Jack tried squinting his eyes to see if it would change what he saw. In the end, it still looked like a mesh of scribbles.

Hiccup looked at Jack oddly. "Where are you from?"

"Um." His mouth snapped shut, eyes wide. "I...don't remember."

"I'll have to take you flying. Maybe you'll recognize something."

"You'd really take me flying?" The prince tried to stand again in his excitement, and he did manage to at least stay vertical for a few moments before crashing into Hiccup's lap. "When?"

Hiccup smiled. "As soon as you can actually stand! As much as I don't mind catching you, I can't have you falling off!"

"I can stand...just fine." He struggled up again, placing his feet flat on the floor with a determined look on his face. Still a little shaky, Jack was finally able to stand up without help. He gave Hiccup a triumphant look.

"Nice. Now can you actually walk?"

"Um…" For a good minute, Jack simply stared down at his feet. When he thought he'd finally figured out how to move he took a tentative step forward. As soon as he shifted his weight the teen found himself on the ground again. He rubbed his chin with a wince.

"Let's get you walking, and then we can go riding. Don't worry, Toothless will probably be bothering you all the time, so you won't be lonely."

Jack turned over with an embarrassed smile. "Help me up?"

"Okay, up you get." Hiccup helped Jack stand and gave him a steadying hand. "And when you're well, you can meet everyone else and their dragons."

"There are more dragons here?" His face lit up like a child being given a present.

"Yeah, everyone has one. And then there are just the dragons that hang around. We've got hundreds."

"Hundreds?!"

"Sure. The dragons like it here. We have a stable, a breeding pen, an obstacle course, all sorts of fun things for them. We like having them around."

"Tell me about them?" Since he couldn't stand for long or walk, Jack settled for laying down on the bed again. He found himself snuggling into the furs. Hiccup smiled and laid beside Jack, going through the book page by page. He described each dragon, telling as many stories as he could. "Hiccup?" He looked over at the other teen. "Can you talk to them?"

"In a way, I guess. I talk to them, and they respond without words. I understand Toothless really well, and any rider could say the same about their own dragon. I suppose though...I do have a way with them. It's like...it's easier to talk to them than it is to talk to other people, you know?"

"I suppose dragons are a lot like animals then. Their lives are simpler so they're more free with their feelings in a way."

"Dragons are different. They're clever, like people, and yet they lack all malice or true evil. They really are rather trusting." Hiccup smiled. "I remember, a little while ago, I healed a Scauldron. Hunters had injured him, and yet he was so trusting of me."

"A Scauldron? That one right?" He pointed to one of the pages from Hiccup's book. "I ran into one too. It wasn't too happy with me though."

Hiccup nodded. "He can be a bit stupid at times. You probably touched something of his. He hates that. I once touched a stone by his stall without his permission, and I almost lost my other leg. Quick to forgive, though. Give him some fish and he's a big baby."

"I think I stumbled upon his hidey hole. Almost got boiled."

"Hidey hole? You'd have to be underwater for that."

"It was...half underwater. A ship frozen in the ice I think. Don't remember it too well," he mumbled.

"Must have been one of our old wrecks. Ours loves hiding things away in them. There's one particular Skrill who's always trying to steal his things, so he has to be clever about hiding them."

"Which one's the Skrill again?" Every time he asked a question, Hiccup happily answered. So intent were they on their conversation that hours passed before they realized.

"Hiccup?" There was a knock on the open door frame. "How is your new ward doing, son?"

"Great, Dad." Hiccup averted his eyes as a large man came into the room, his face almost hidden by a head of red hair and a full, red beard. "Jack, this is my Dad. He's also the chief."

Jack scrambled from the bed, somehow managing to stay on his feet. "Hello, Sir. Thank you for having me in your home."

"You don't have to thank him," Hiccup mumbled, gathering his books and papers together.

"Is it not the custom?" Jack looked at his new friend with confusion. "Have I offended?" He tried to take a step too fast ended up on the floor again.

"No. It's not the custom around here, lad. But we aren't exactly normal when it comes to customs." Stoic gave a hearty laugh as he easily plopped his son's guest back on his feet. "Hiccup said he found you out on the sea; I guess you still haven't gotten your land legs set."

"Land legs?" He looked up at the big man innocently. "How do I get those?"

Stoic couldn't stop laughing. "I don't know where this one came from, Hiccup, but he sure has a sense of humor." He made his way for the door, calling behind him, "Dinner will be ready soon, boys."

"Hiccup? Why did he think that was so funny? What are land legs?"

"Your legs," Hiccup chuckled. "Someone meant to be on a ship has sea legs, meaning they can actually stand on a ship without getting sick. Everyone has land legs unless they've flown or swam their whole lives, which is impossible."

"Damn," he grumbled as he stumbled back to the bed. "Land legs would be pretty useful right now."

"You could use this." Hiccup went and grabbed something by the door, bringing it to Jack. "I found you with it. You were holding it so tight, I thought it was a part of your arm!"

As soon as he touched the wood again, Jack could feel the magic shooting through him again. For a brief moment he wondered if that would happen every time he touched it. "Thank you. I don't know what I would have done without this."

"Maybe you're a shepherd. Fell off a cliff, hit your head, got carried out to sea."

"Yeah. Maybe." Jack shrugged. When he tried to get to his feet again he found it much easier with the staff. "You were right about this being helpful." He smiled when he was able to take steps by using his arms to hold himself up.

"You'll be walking fine in no time! Good thing too. I almost had Gobber fire you up something, like mine."

"What happened to yours?" He looked at the metal prosthetic. "Can I ask that?" He remembered some injured merfolk back home had been a little touchy if you brought up the subject of their lost limbs.

"Lost it in battle, like a good viking. Actually, I'm not sure exactly how it happened. I remember falling and fire...and then waking up to this."

"I can barely walk with two feet. I don't know how you do it with one." Jack sniggered before he almost lost balance and clung to his staff again.

"Took practice. I was like you at first, but then I got used to it."

"Right. Practice." The teen struggled around the room, admiring more of the pages on the walls as he took his laps. He was happy to find that he relied on his staff a little less with each turn. "So what happens here on- did you say 'Berk'?"

"Yeah. We don't really do much, not anymore. We used to fight the dragons, but now that we don't do that anymore, we just have fun."

"You used to fight the dragons? I thought they were your friends."

"We didn't understand each other then. Dragons...killed my mother. My Dad never got over that, so we were constantly fighting them."

Like my mother and father. He remembered the day his mother had been carried off by a dragon, how his father had closed off the surface world to all merfolk. The prince was shocked by how much he had in common with Hiccup. He felt a stinging in his eyes and reached up to find his cheeks wet. "Wh-what is this? What's happening?"

"You're crying." Hiccup smiled and used a cloth to dry Jack's eyes. "Don't feel bad. I hardly knew her, and my Dad's gotten better since being around them." Hiccup gave him a look. "You understand what I mean, don't you?"

"Yeah," he sniffled. "He seems to have let go of his hate. Good for him. And you."

"What about yours, huh? Has he not found a good enough dragon yet?"

"I-" He paused. "I don't really remember my father much, but I don't think he would ever trust a dragon."

"He would if he met the right one. Maybe you'll find one here and can take it back with you to show him!"

"I doubt it." Jack gave a half-smile. "But thanks anyway for trying."

"You can share Toothless with me until you do."

"Thank you, Hiccup. For everything."

"You don't have to thank me. That's what friends do."

"Is that what we are? Friends?"

"Yeah, if you want to be."

Jack nodded vigorously. "Friends." He grinned at the chief's son.