I neither own nor claim any rights to How to Train Your Dragon...

Jarin and the Riders of Berk

Chapter 5 –Origins and Beginnings

Toothless watched as the new rider left the new dragon to go to the same place Hiccup always goes when he's here but not training dragons. He had been in there once before, just to look around. Nothing interesting, really. Just a bunch of those leather and paper things the two-legs always were either staring at or scribbling funny little angular lines that meant absolutely nothing to him. What Hiccup found so interesting to do in there, he could never figure out. So he spent his time either sleeping in one of the shade rooms or watching two-legs get to know their dragons... Or was it watching dragons get to know their two-legs? Sometimes Toothless had a hard time making that distinction.

The new dragon was laying in the middle of the now shaded training yard, snoring. Not unlike many others of its kind slumbering in shade rooms or other places around the two-legs' village. Toothless wandered over to it and sniffed. It smelled of dragon-nip and other clean things, still tinged with sickness and another scent that made Toothless want to arch his back defensively and growl. He wasn't sure how, but that faint residual scent reminded him of something from... somewhere else... from a long time ago, before he came to this part of the world. He wasn't sure what it was. Only that it implied fear and danger.

It wasn't the new dragon's fault. He knew that. He had seen the injuries inflicted upon it, clearly by other two-legs, and it made him angry. He didn't really like dragons of this kind. He tolerated them, but their tendencies to get flaming mad over the smallest things made them ill company on the best of says, and a nightmare on days that were not so good. The one that big-two-legs-with-muscles-and-loud-mouth always rode was the more pleasant its kind he had known. Her love for her two-leg was undeniable, and in a way that made her a better dragon. But she was still pretty sensitive on a lot of subjects. Now, when he looked at this pitiful creature before him, he felt resolve to help him, if he could.

He was amazed at how so many two-legs had actually pitched in to help the dragon get better. This new glorious age of peace between them and dragon-kind was turning out to be wonderful, and he thanked the Creator-of-all for making him and his two- no... one-leg friend a part of it. The new rider who smelled of farmland seemed to care a great deal about the new dragon's well-being. His scent carried an essence of loneliness. Incompletion. It made him sad. He hoped that there would be a bond between him and the new dragon. More accurately, he hoped that the new dragon would see how much the two-leg cared and reciprocate.

Where did the new dragon come from? What horrors had he known. Would he be able to put them aside? Would he be able to forgive two-legs in general for the things that the specific ones he had known had done? Not all dragons were willing to be friends... or at least, not willing to live among the two-legs. For the most part, they were amicable and diplomatic, after their fashion. But for some, the memories of past torments and loss were too hard to just put aside. He understood that.

He recalled again his own pain and rage against the two-legs who had killed his beloved Graycloud. He wanted to kill them all, but with her life fading, she told him that what happened was her fault, and that he should forgive them.

"We should be sorry for what we do... Maybe... One day... They will say they are sorry... For what they do... Hope for it... For me..."

Those were the last words Graycloud had spoken to him in life. He did hope. He refused to pour out his wrath upon the two-legs. But he had made it a point to destroy the tools by which they could harm his friends. Tools like the one that was used to bring him down to the earth that fateful night.

Human speech was so shallow. But their minds were clear. When he heard the sounds "I did this" from the two-leg who originally intended to bite into his flesh with a metal tooth he held in his hands, he also heard an unspoken "I am so sorry" from its mind. He heard what Graycloud asked him to hope for. That was why he did not kill the skinny two-leg who would become his dearest friend on that day.

He heard it again from the female-two-leg-who-likes-my-two-leg-more-than-she- wants-to-admit. Before she spoke those words, he wanted nothing more than to see her pitched into the ocean. How dare she inflict pain on his two-leg friend and speak to him with such revulsion. His soul was pure, couldn't she see that. She did not deserve the privilege of riding on his back. But then she made the sounds "I'm sorry" and he had heard the honesty in her mind. That changed everything.

He heard it again after the thing which made him and the others do what they did was finally dead. He had dove through fire to save his two-leg friend. He wasn't sure if he had done so. The fire was so hot. He had bitten his dear friend's foot off. It was the only part of him that he could grab hold of. Because of the chaos of the moment, and panic as they both fell, he had not retracted his teeth. He grabbed the young two-leg by the shin, and jerked back, pulling him into a four-legged embrace as he closed his wrapped his wings around him, bracing for the inevitable impact that would probably be his death. But if the Creator-of-all would bless him, his two-leg would be saved.

When he had realized that when he had jerked back on his young friend's leg, he had actually bitten it off a bit below the knee, he spat the dismembered body part out. The fire consumed it, he was sure. But he would never forget the horror of tasting the young two-leg's blood in his mouth. And yet, when it was all over, the big-leader-of-two-legs was kneeling beside him, and had made the sounds, "I'm so sorry." this creature that had so much hate for dragon-kind, now was seeking forgiveness, he heard in his mind that the apology was directed at Toothless, at his son, and to dragon-kind in general.

When everyone got back to the two-leg village, brought there on the backs of dragons, and he saw the ruined stump where his two-leg's lower leg and foot should have been, such deep sorrow washed over him. He had laid his head down on the table and let out a mournful whine. At least, that's all the two-legs would have heard. But what he had said was, "I did this! I am so sorry"

Of course, his dear friend recovered. He was given a wood-and-metal leg thing made by the crazy-one-leg-one-arm-who-made-things. And something wondrous. The metal foot was made to snap into a modified version of the thing-that-let-him-fly-again. His young friend had broken him. He had broken his young friend. And now, together, they made each other part of a whole.

If any dragon had any questions of his origins or how he came to be a part of what had proven to be a great destiny, he had the answers. The new dragon snoring before him who smelled of pain and fear and danger no doubt had an origin story of his own, and Toothless hoped he would be able to tell it.

"I will hope for it," he said to the dragon. Then he turned aside and walked away, wondering if anyone had any fish...

O O O

Astrid passed Jarin as he left the office. She wondered what he was grinning about. Perhaps the Monstrous Nightmare's recovery was progressing well and he was just happy. She shrugged and entered the office.

Hiccup sat at his desk, working on his inventory notes. She cleared her throat and he looked up."

"Astrid! Hi!" he exclaimed. "When did you get back?"

"Just now," she said. "Fishlegs and I scouted several miles out from the island, along the course the nightmare was drifting from, and we found nothing. He must have been adrift for a long time."

Hiccup nodded. "I expected as much. We really need to find where he came from. There have to be others there. Being tormented and tortured. Even Alvin and his outcasts didn't treat their captive dragons with such cruelty, and I've never known a more cruel Viking than Alvin."

Astrid had moved to stand behind him. She placed cool hands gently on his neck and began to massage his near-non-existent neck muscles.

"OW!" he said. "That feels good"

"You're so tense. You need to relax." she began working her strong fingers into his shoulder, and he groaned with a combination of pain and bliss. She remembered that tender kiss they shared on the island the day the Nightmare had washed ashore. They were alone then. They were alone now. She bent down and kissed his cheek.

Hiccup dropped his pencil. He couldn't work with this sort of distraction. He didn't want to work with this sort of distraction. He couldn't be distracted by work. He stood up and turned to face Astrid, his green eyes staring into hers. He moved to kiss her on the lips.

Astrid shoved him back with both hands and he fell onto the desk. She was on top of him, kissing him passionately, and he was reciprocating. He was actually a good kisser, she thought. Once he could get going with it.

It went on like this for a few minutes before she heard the sound of someone clearing his throat. Both her and Hiccup's eyes popped open. She looked up and he looked up and back...

Stoick stood there with an eyebrow raised and a grin on his face. "And here all this time I thought this place was being used for Dragon Training."

Astrid scrambled away from Hiccup and Hiccup scrambled to just stand up. For some reason he acted like his legs had turned to jelly...

"Dad. I can explain"

Stoick laughed heartily. "No need, son. I was your age once, too. So was your mother." He looked back and forth between Hiccup and Astrid. "You know, you two might want to take a page out of my book. Hang up a sign that says 'Meeting in Progress,' and lock the door. It works."

Astrid was embarrassed. How could she lose control like that? All she wanted to do was ease Hiccup's tension. Then he had to go and try to kiss her back. Heat of the moment, she guessed. But of all people to walk in on them? Stoick the Vast? Hiccup's father? Chief of the village? On the other hand, it wouldn't be like the chief would gossip about what he'd seen. And he did sound amused. And it's not like she had anything to be ashamed of, having feelings for Hiccup. The boy was a hero. He made peace between humans and dragons possible. Him and Toothless. The entire village had come to see him in a new light. The thing was that he didn't really change. He was just given an opportunity for his true qualities to shine forth. He was as much a Viking as the rest of them, though he had discovered a new path to glory that didn't involve swinging weapons.

There was much honor in him. She just didn't see it before that day she rode with him on the back of a Night Fury, the most dangerous dragon known. Her eyes were truly opened that day. Why shouldn't she be open about how she really felt about Hiccup? People respected her. They respected him, now. What was the problem. Nothing!

The clans of Haddock and Hofferson were strong and in good standing with each other. Her parents were proud of her and they admired Hiccup for his accomplishments. It would be a good match. So why was she hesitant? Maybe it had something to do with the way she always disciplined herself to keep her options open. But Hiccup would become Chief of Berk, one day. What better option was there? None!

She looked up at Stoick and laughed. They all laughed.

It turned out that Stoick had come just to pay a social visit to his son. Hiccup was living in his own house now, and had been so busy for the past several days overseeing the recovery of the monstrous nightmare, and Stoick had been preparing for a trip to one of the other tribe's islands. That tribe had managed to establish peace with their dragons and Stoick was eager to see how things were going. There would be trade agreements to be made and other matters of state to attend to. So when he wasn't riding Thronado around Berk keeping things going smoothly, he was working on speeches he would need to make.

Before he left, he invited both Hiccup and Astrid for supper. And they had gladly accepted.

They grinned at each other after the door closed behind the Chief.

"Now where were we?" Hiccup asked.

She gave him a mischievous smile. "Right where we're going to be again as soon as you put up a sign and lock the door."

O O O

Jarin had gone back to watching over the recovering Monstrous Nightmare, still overjoyed at the prospect of establishing new names for at least some of the dragon species. Names that were less fear-inspiring. Names that might capture the essence of what they were in a respectful way. He was so deep in his musings that it did not immediately dawn on him that the dragon had stopped snoring. When it did, he looked up.

The Monstrous nightmare was staring back at him, eyes fully focused, and a growl beginning to rumble in its throat.

"Oh, great Odin's ghost!" Jarin exclaimed as the dragon roared in his face...

Okay, guys... I figured it was about timeto explore some theories I've had about certain events that were not directly shown in the movie such as how precisely Hiccup lost his lower leg and foot. I also wanted to further tie in some elements from my "Nightmare!" one shot to explore a little more of my ideas on some background material for Toothless. I wanted to give Hiccup and Astrid some romance time and throw a little attempted humor in there as well... And I figure it was about time for the sleeping dragon to awaken.

Let me know what you guys think.