Chapter Eight: Trails and Tribulations

Hiccup put the forge instruments away for the evening and began heading back towards the forest. He might as well stay in the Cove until Kyra found him a more permanent residence. As the sun set over the horizon, Hiccup couldn't help but gaze out to the ocean. It was hard to belief that for three years he'd been forced to call the place home but now he was where he really belonged the serenity of it seemed to come flooding back to him. A voice snapped him out of his daydreams.

"Enjoying the scenery, are we?" It was Astrid. Hiccup gulped and nodded nervously. Why can't I just tell her? he groaned inwardly. It was what he wanted to do more than anything – tell Astrid that he was there, alive and well, trying to figure out how to break the curse that was upon him. It hurt him that he couldn't tell her the truth.

"Well, we don't exactly get views like this where I'm from," he said instead, snapping into his impression of his dad's voice and avoiding eye contact. Astrid stood silent for a few moments, admiring the sky turning from bright pink-orange to an inky blue-black.

"So you saw it happen, huh?" she asked calmly. Hiccup knew he had to watch his step with her – Astrid, despite her terrible acting skills, was a master of being able to keep her emotions under control when she wanted to find something out.

"The attack?" he made sure. Astrid nodded slowly. "Yeah...I saw. I reckon I was the only one from the school who did."

"Why didn't you help?" Astrid quizzed, her voice still maintaining the calm-before-the-storm tone.

"Any dragon worth his scales is terrified of that thing," Hiccup explained quickly. "The Darkwing's magic...I've never heard of a dragon who can match it." Astrid guessed that 'Darkwing' was the name of the dragon from three years ago.

"Hmmm," she sighed. "Even Kyra couldn't reverse whatever curse that thing put on her." Hiccup winced and subconsciously covered the back of his left hand, worried that Astrid's already high suspicions would grow if she saw the curse mark there. "How long are you planning on staying?" she asked.

"Uh...as long as I need to, really," Hiccup replied. "I didn't exactly think things through when I ran away."

"Sounds like someone I know," Astrid rolled her eyes, the faintest glimmer of a fond smile creeping onto her face. She quickly snapped out of it. "Listen, all I want is for my fiancé to come home. If you have anything to tell me, I suggest you do so."

"If I had anything I could tell you I would," Hiccup huffed. It was the honest truth – experience had taught him the difference between 'would' and 'could'. Hopefully Astrid would be able to find it in her heart to understand and forgive him once this was over. "Night, As...Ma'am," he corrected himself again, turning to head into the forest.

"It's Astrid, if it makes things easier for you," Astrid called after the boy as he vanished into the trees. "I'm way too young to be a 'ma'am'," she muttered to herself.

/\

"I certainly hope you know what you are doing!" a Weedsnake hissed in anger. "The boy is without doubt back on Berk by now and almost certainly be trying to cheat the curse the Darkwing place on him! You know that without the boy, our plans are for nought!"

"I am aware of this," another Weedsnake growled calmly. "It would have been preferable for the boy to have remained away from his home island but it is of little consequence – he will soon have little choice but to return to the waves."

"And how, might I ask?" the first Weedsnake snickered. "Or do I need to remind you that you were there the night he escaped and let him slip from your grasp?"

"Enough!" the second roared. "Do you not trust my judgement? The Darkwing brought the boy to us and he will surely do the same again – we strive towards the same goal after all."

"Of course," a third Weedsnake cackled. "To rid our world of any...contaminants from theirs."

"I still don't see how this is possible if the Dragon Tamer becomes one of us," the first Weedsnake huffed. "Isn't he not as much of a...contaminant, as you say...as the girl who has the nerve to call herself our Goddess?"

"Must I remind you yet again of the tales surrounding Her Radiance?" the second Weedsnake asked calmly. "Before she took a human form, Lohikäärme ruled our world side by side with her brother, the God of Spirits – Ivor, whose knowledge and wit rivalled even that of the human's god, Loki. He, however, was merely her right-hand man, although she loved him dearly. Driven mad by his desire to be more than a second-in-command, he flew into a terrible rage and transformed into a beast unlike any other, slaying his sister, casting her from the heavens and cursing her human incarnations to the same fate. We know that unless this is carried out perfectly, she will never be returned to her divine form."

"So they boy must perform this act to give us our true Goddess back? As a cursed being and under Ivor's command?" the first Weedsnake affirmed.

"Indeed. But the boy will never do such a thing willingly, unlike so many of the others. It has been because of their hatred that Lohikäärme has not yet been returned to us," the second Weedsnake explained. "He has no hatred for his sister, which makes him the perfect candidate. However, he must become one of us completely if Ivor is to have any chance of having him do his bidding. The first step has been a long on, but I may have found a way to quicken the process."

/\

Hiccup opened his eyes to the sight of the autumn blue sky peeking through the foliage of the forest and listening to the sounds of wolves far off in the distance hunting before the winter months set in. Out of pure habit, he examined his hands – the webbed skin between his fingers had now vanished and had done the same on his feet. It was small triumph that Hiccup couldn't wait to share with Kyra – he was one step closer to regaining his humanity. Speaking of Kyra...

"Rise and shine!" a voice called as a figure leapt into the cove. "Fishlegs is insisting on an examination. Figured I might as well shut him up." Hiccup slowly got to his feet.

"Does he really have to?" he groaned. "It'll be a false entry to the Book of Dragons that'll need to be taken out anyway."

"Try telling Fishlegs that," Kyra huffed. "You know what he's like when it comes to new species."

"But I'm not even a real dragon!"

"They don't know that!" Kyra snapped at her brother's protest. "Look, just humour him for now. It's not like you've got much else to do – it's just our luck that Gobber decided to close the forge today." Damn. "I don't want them to do this as much as you do but I can hardly say that if I'm supposed to be keeping this stupid secret!" she finished. Hiccup winced – he didn't know why he had to keep this whole thing a secret but he had no choice but to accept whatever help he could if he wanted to get his humanity back. Still, it looked as if there was no getting out of today, which sucked.

"Well, one day can't hurt," Hiccup smirked, holding up his hand. "Progress check?" Kyra's eyes lit up on seeing that the webbed skin was gone.

"Yes!" she grinned. "Good thing too – that was starting to creep me out." Hiccup made a face. "I know – you couldn't help it. Now come on, will you? They've been waiting long enough as it is."

Hiccup gave in and allowed his sister to half drag him to the Dragon Training Academy where the other teens were already waiting. Kyra apologised quickly for making them wait so long and brought Hiccup to stand in the middle of the arena the team had adopted years ago as their Dragon Training Academy. True, it was still used for Combat Training as well but it was better than learning how to kill dragons (even if the old tactics came in handy on a rare occasion, mostly with the bigger dragons).

"Oh, this is so exciting!" Fishlegs grinned. "Uh, you don't mind this, do you?" Hiccup shrugged – like Kyra said, he might as well humour Fishlegs.

"I don't have a problem with it," he supposed, slipping into his Stoick-impersonation. Fishlegs could hide his squeal of delight which caused the other teens to roll their eyes in embarrassment.

"Haven't seen you this excited since the day we discovered the Typhoomerang," Astrid smirked at Fishlegs who quickly recomposed himself. "So what's up first?" She didn't even glance at Hiccup as she spoke.

"Firepower!" Ruffnut grinned evilly.

"Physical strength!" Snotlout shouted at the same time.

"Air speed!" Tuffnut cut across. Hiccup grimaced – he didn't particularly want to do any of that, not if he wasn't supposed to use any of his dragon abilities at all if he was to become human again. Still, at least the twins broke out into another argument for a while to stall things.

"Why would you want to check out air speed first?" Ruffnut glared at her brother. "Firepower's way more fun!"

"Yeah, well, we always start with firepower!" Tuffnut argued. Kyra frowned – she was sure there hadn't been another new species discovery since the Typhoomerang. "And seeing how fast he can go would be cool in a new way! And how do we know he can even breathe fire?"

"We're not gonna know unless we check!" Ruffnut snapped. "Besides, air speed is, like, the boring-est test ever! That one can wait!"

"If you two are quite finished..." Astrid growled, grabbing the horns on the twins' helmets and forcing them apart. Hiccup was actually dreading things now the argument was over...the one time he was grateful that the twins were always arguing...

"I guess we might as well do the measurements first," Kyra suggested. "It gets the boring stuff out of the way plus it'll give us more time to check the other stuff later – that okay, Draco?" she asked.

/\

Draco nodded, although his face still suggested that he would rather be anywhere but in the arena being studied. Astrid fetched the measuring tape whilst Fishlegs got his notebook out and asked Draco to extend his wings, which he did. Astrid had to get Kyra to hold the other end of the tape – the wingspan was so big.

"Wingspan: twelve feet," Astrid eventually said. Fishlegs made a note, deciding to check Draco's flying later much to Ruffnut's delight and Tuffnut's irritation. Astrid then measured the tail which was as long as Draco was tall, not counting the tail fins. "Tail length: five feet nine inches," she called out as Fishlegs also made a note of this. Draco was looking increasingly uncomfortable as the physical examinations went by. Snotlout suddenly froze when he examined Draco's right hand.

"Hey, weren't these webbed yesterday?" he frowned. Draco whipped his hand away and avoided eye contact with everyone. "What happened?"

"Uh...it's...umm...nothing," Draco stammered nervously. "Never mind."

"Seriously, you don't just suddenly go from having webbed hands to not in the space of twenty-four hours," Snotlout noted. Okay, when did he get so smart? Draco snapped.

"Look, it comes from not being in the water for a while, okay?" he growled. Kyra winced – what just happened there? "We adapt quickly, alright? I don't exactly need webbed hands and feet on land, do I?" Snotlout took a hasty step back and muttered something which only Kyra's super sharp hearing was able to pick up.

"Okay, okay...don't lose your head," Snotlout mumbled before muttering something else. "Man, and I thought Val's eyes went creepy when she was angry."

"Call me Val again and you'll see I don't need to go into my Shifter State to cause damage!" Kyra snapped although Snotlout's muttering caught her thinking. What had happened to Draco's eyes? She darted round to face the Halfling eye to eye but she couldn't see anything different – they were still emerald-green. Still, she knew they had to be careful. Before long, all of the measurements were done so Fishlegs moved onto the dragon ability tests.

/\

Hiccup had no idea what had come over him back there. His mind had just blanked out for a second and he got so angry at Snotlout for being so pushy...he calmed down soon enough but it was strange. He'd been annoyed at Snotlout before but it had never felt like real anger until now. Still, that was the least of his worries right now. Fishlegs wanted him to do some dragon ability tests...this was a step in the complete wrong direction at the moment but he had no choice. He might be able to weasel his way out of the firepower one as even he wasn't sure if he could produce a flame but physical strength and flying were a different matter entirely – dragons that were the same size or bigger than humans were stronger than them anyway due to increased muscle development and there was no way Hiccup could have reached the Cove without flying (even if it was having been caught by Windwalker but the teens didn't know that).

"Okay, first off – the Strength Test," Fishlegs decided. Damn. "Alright, Draco – this basically involves lifting objects of increasing mass until you can't lift anymore." Hiccup nodded his understanding although he cast a brief glance at Kyra and saw how worried she looked – even so, it wasn't like he had any choice in the matter.

He would have to comply just for one day and use dragon abilities.

The teens set up an array of objects, each on increasing in mass (the heaviest objects had to be brought in by two dragons). Hiccup began with the lightest – the heaviest hammer in the armoury – and was astonished at how easy it was for him to lift it. His confidence slightly getting ahead of him, he skipped the next few objects and moved straight onto a cart full of weapons. Again, it took little effort for him to get it above the ground. Finally he lifted the heaviest object – a solid iron boat decoration which was nearly the size of Hookfang. This one was slightly harder but he was still able to get it off the ground.

"Whoa!" Snotlout grinned. "I've only ever seen Kyra lift that before."

"Strength: 16," Fishlegs noted down, scribbling a few notes into his book. "Okay – Flight and Air Speed next," he announced. "Do you fly much or are your wings normally just used for swimming, Draco?"

"Well, they can be used for both," Hiccup explained. "Bit like an albatross – they're better for gliding once you get the right height."

"Okay, guys – give him some space," Fishlegs instructed and the teens complied. Astrid watched in interest – the Halfling didn't appear to want to take part in any of these tests. He seemed incredibly reluctant to do any of the things he was asked to do. She paused when she spotted his left hand – there was a mark there, she couldn't tell what, as well as the gold band around his finger she'd seen the day before.

"What in Thor's name?" she muttered. She hadn't exactly believed the boy's cover up about the ring yesterday although she couldn't be sure if it was what she thought it was, but the mark increased her suspicions even more. What was it depicting? She had a theory forming in her head that was getting closer to being confirmed by the second.

Kyra caught Astrid's muttering and cast a nervous glance at the Nordic Blonde who appeared to shake it off. In the meantime, Hiccup jumped as hard as he could into the air, beating his wings furiously, just like when he'd first taken to the air after escaping the Weedsnakes and Coralflames in the water. Once he was in the air, however, flying came naturally to him and he flew through the air just a small distance above the Academy whilst Fishlegs took notes until Tuffnut cut in.

"Hey! How 'bout we see how fast you can go, huh?" he called eagerly. Hiccup hid a groan but complied – again, he didn't have much of a choice. He just hoped this didn't affect his progress too much. "One lap around Berk! We'll time it." On the cue to go, Hiccup flew upwards to gain some altitude before diving down to get his speed up. Once he got going, he hit every checkpoint around the island course through memory and within minutes was back at the Academy where he landed rather clumsily – one could hardly blame him seeing as the last time he'd 'landed' he'd technically dived back into the sea.

"Time: one minute and ten seconds," Astrid noted blankly. "Not bad going for a sea-dragon."

"That makes a speed of..." Fishlegs thought for a while before jotting down the speed. "Wow – almost as fast as a Deadly Nadder! That really is pretty impressive!" Hiccup couldn't help but feel slightly good about himself. Despite this, he wasn't looking forward to what he knew was coming. "And finally, the Fire Test," Fishlegs announced. Hiccup grimaced, trying to look uncertain. "Just quickly – do Halflings even breathe fire, Draco?"

"Well, we're water-based dragons so..." Hiccup shrugged. "I mean, Scaldrons and Thunderdrums are Tidal Cla...I mean...water-based dragons and they don't breathe fire."

"That Darkwing or whatever you called it did," Astrid pointed out coldly, still avoiding eye contact. "We're asking whether your type can. Yes or no?"

"I don't know!" Hiccup snapped. "Just because I'm a Halfling you can't expect me to know everything about my species."

"Well, it would make sense for you to know," Astrid growled. Hiccup cowered slightly.

"Do you know everything about the human race?" he whimpered, desperate to get out of this. Thankfully it shut Astrid up but it didn't stop Ruffnut from wanting to see some destruction.

"Well, if you don't know, you can find out," she grinned slyly. "Go on! At least try!"

"You might as well – she's not ever gonna shut up until you do," Tuffnut groaned, earning nothing but a punch in the face from his sister. Hiccup huffed – he didn't even know how dragons produced fire in the first place! Still, he knew that Tuffnut was right – Ruffnut will never stop bugging him until she saw some form of destruction...probably both of the twins would, knowing them.

"Okay," he sighed. Grinning, the teens set up a bunch of targets from Hiccup to hit. They cleared out to the spectator stands to observe the proceedings although Kyra was clearly annoyed by the whole thing. True she'd persuaded Hiccup to come along and agree to this but she'd hoped he could talk his way out of this. Now thanks to her, it could take even longer for Hiccup to regain his humanity.

In the arena, Hiccup took a deep breath and focused his energy on producing a flame. He had no idea if it would work but it was worth a shot. Subconsciously, he found himself moving into a stance poised for attack: his legs apart to balance himself; his arms up ready to defend or attack as needed; his wings raised ominously; and his tail slowly shifting position as his energies focused on the target in front of him. His eyes narrowed in determination – somehow, he felt that he could do this. He felt power building inside him – a burning strength waiting to be unleashed...

And unleash it, he did.

Hiccup released the build-up of power inside him in the form of a turquoise ball of flame. The flame completely obliterated the target but Hiccup barely took any notice as he turned to the second, third and fourth target in rapid succession. Kyra watched in a mixture of shock and amazement – Hiccup had completely changed. It was as if his behaviour had turned dragoon-like, much like she used to in her Shifter State. It frightened her. Then, briefly but certainly, she saw Hiccup's eyes, if only for a moment. They were no longer emerald-green but a burning red, just like the Darkwing's.

He had no idea he was producing the fire. He didn't even know who he was.

"STOP!" Kyra shrieked, leaping down into the arena without thinking. Thankfully Hiccup seemed to reach his shot limit (ten, more than most other dragons) but collapsed into Kyra's arms as soon as she was near him. "Hiccup..." she muttered, not loud enough for the others to hear. "Hiccup...listen to me! Wake up!" she muttered worriedly. Fortunately, the boy's eyes fluttered open – they were back to emerald-green.

"Urgh..." he groaned. "What...what happened?"

"Is he okay?" Astrid called, opening the gate and running over. The others followed closely behind her. Hiccup slowly sat up and rubbed his head – what had happened to him? Everything had blacked out again and yet, at the same time, everything seemed so clear.

"Looks a bit burnt out to me," Ruffnut commented.

"Awesome firepower, though!" Tuffnut smirked.

"You were the one who didn't even wanna see him do that test!"

"I never said that!"

"Guys!" Kyra snapped, helping the half-dragon boy to his feet. "You okay?" she asked nervously. Hiccup blinked a few times – he wasn't sure. He needed to find out what was going on...and fast.

"I don't...I'm not...I need a minute," he said plainly, jogging out of the Academy. Kyra bit her lip – maybe she shouldn't have pulled him into this.

/\

Astrid watched as Draco left the Academy. She hadn't seen someone look so worried about something apart from Kyra once she'd first heard the tales of the Dragon Shifter.

"What was with him during that last test?" she wondered aloud. Given how the Halfling had just acted during the test, her theory suddenly looked a little less likely. Hiccup would never lose control like that. "That fire looked familiar." Kyra glared at her.

"Before you say it, the Darkwing's fire was green, not turquoise!" she snapped. "Will you quit being so suspicious, Astrid? It's not helping him one bit!"

"What does he need help for?" Astrid retorted. "By the looks of things he's more than capable of taking care of himself! I don't know about you but I don't feel comfortable with a human-looking sea dragon that could go berserk on us at any second walking around our village!"

"He needs time, Astrid!" Kyra shouted back. "You gave me time to find my place and fit in! Why can't you do the same for him?!"

"You were different!" Astrid yelled.

"This is gonna be good," Tuffnut snickered.

"Shouldn't we calm them down?" Fishlegs muttered nervously.

"Let me think on it," Snotlout smirked.

"I gave up thinking," Ruffnut shrugged. The girls continued arguing.

"Are you not even the slightest bit suspicious about him, Kyra?" Astrid growled. "Have you not seen how much he looks like Hiccup? For all we know, the Darkwing's created him to trick us into a false sense of security by trusting this...thing...and wait until we're vulnerable. Then he'll go to the Darkwing and then we're all doomed. Don't you even miss Hiccup?"

"Don't you dare think that I don't!" Kyra shrieked. "I love Hiccup as much as you do, Astrid! He's my brother, for Thor's sake, so don't you even think that I don't miss him. Trust me if I still had my powers I would be spending every waking moment looking for him!"

"Oh, so just because you don't have your powers anymore – that's stopping you from looking for him?" Astrid yelled back. "Don't think I haven't noticed – you've stopped singing the Song of the Adriatic. You used to try to get it to reach the seas every day until that thing showed up!"

"And what good did it do?" Kyra cried, tears forming in her eyes. "I know Hiccup will come back. I know that the day we see the Darkwing again will be the day that we make it pay for what it did! You need to open your eyes, Astrid, because right now you've got blinkers on that have been formed by your suspicions!" Astrid made to argue further but Kyra cut across. "No, shut up! Draco needs our help right now if he's going to find a place where he belongs. He doesn't need any hard feelings being stacked up against him!"

With that Kyra stormed from the Academy, leaving the other teens speechless. Astrid stood for what seemed like hours, stunned into silence. It felt as if Kyra had slapped her around the face with a hot iron – she had never seen her best friend so angry before. What if Kyra was right and Draco needed help? For what, Astrid had no idea, but if it was true...she felt terrible. It wouldn't be the first time she'd been suspicious of someone who, deep down, only wanted someone to help them.

She didn't want to give this Draco a chance...but what if it was the right thing to do?

And, if her still existing suspicions proved correct, what if it did lead to Hiccup?