-Chapter: XII-

-A Game of Give and Take-

`Some people call me mad sometimes when I make things. They say that I would be mad to try and do things differently, or that the method I was attempting was outrightly bizarre. Everything about me was bizarre. I would always grasp my newest project with renowned vigor, believing it could be my ticket into my villages heart. Sometimes, the project could doom your very being...

Gobber had called everyone one of the class to join him at the top of the south-west cliffs. It was a secluded area, accessible via one single path that was lined with boulders. The general spot for camping was quite large, enough to be safe, even without the small wall of boulders that lined the outer rim. Hiccup was making his way out of his house and up the steep hill by the time the sky had darkened fully. The crescent moon was filling as the stars twinkled along. He could over hear the group above him talking about their exploits over the years. Gobber would most likely call back the tale of how he lost his two limbs. Every time, he would overly exaggerate individual parts, till nothing matched anymore. Perks for working with the man daily. By the time Ruff and Tuff were done arguing over who gets which spot, Hiccup had finally entered the camp site.

"Oi' Hiccup! Over here lad!" Gobber motioned from across the small fire.

"Hey Gobber." Hiccup replied with a flat tone. The large man pulled out a large basket of meat for the boy to choose from. Hiccup chose the small trout. "All right, why don't you get yourself a spot to sit down." He gave the boy his fish and a small, woven blanket. Hiccup moved back from the flames and set himself down near the opening in the stones, the hastily built entrance. He skewered his fish and sat down. The noise from the twins was increasing again. It was going to be a long night...

"So, you really believe in the Boneknapper?" Fishlegs spoke out. Gobber was retelling his retold tale of how he lost both his limbs to the dreaded 'Boneknapper'. Most Vikings doubt the existence of the Boneknapper. Some hock up tales of the silent dragon as being myth and legend.

"Oh yes 'Legs, the Boneknapper's real. As real as the limbs that it chomped off!" At that moment, Snotlout pulled a disgusted face.

"I swear I'm so angry!" He started looking around at everyone, "I'll chop off the legs of every dragon I fight, with my face!" He dramatically bared his teeth in a gesture of strength. No one doubted Snotlout's ability to look menacing. What everyone doubted was his ability to be menacing. The group started laughing at his expression. Fishlegs looked puzzled, possibly thinking over the actual chance of Snotlout tearing off a dragons limb with his face. Gobber spoke out after he regained his composure, "Oh no, it's the wings and the tails you really want. If it can't fly, it can't get away." Hiccup snapped up at the remark. '...if it can't fly, it can't get away..' Gobber broke his thoughts,

"A downed dragon, is a dead dragon." Just as the words fell, so did Hiccups heart. He knew the Night Fury was stuck in the gorge. He couldn't fly away. He wouldn't be able to get away if a Viking found him. He was doomed to die there. Hiccups heart lurched as he knew this, and how he had enacted it. It all made sense, that he would fix his mistakes.

None of the group noticed as Hiccup quietly left his fish by the fire, and took off down the steps, quietly into the night. He turned to his house. Once inside he grabbed a jumble of parchment and some charcoal sticks. Time was of the essence right now. Someone needed him right now. Someone close to him, needed his handiwork.

Hiccup bounced down the steps of his home, supplies in stow. He moved down to the forge, which was dark and quiet with the master smith away. He would need privacy for this. He tucked his way into the back room, laying out the parchment against the rear table. How simple would it be to recreate his friends missing tail fin?

Time was at a standstill as Hiccups hands toiled over the metal rods. The flattened bolts tightened around a leather web work. He worked over the night, the passion and drive of every project boiled down to a fiery center in his mind. He had an overwhelming need to do this. He had cursed his best friend with inevitable death. He would not let that happen. The need drove him on, giving him energy he lacked as he continued on into the night.

It was close to Uht* by the time his fin was completed. It was a leather canvas stretched across a series of bone-like metal rods. Each rod was connected on a swiveling joint that allowed the web-like surface to expand and contract with a simple pull. It was crude, but that happens when the source of the image he worked off was stuck in a hole in the ground, on the other side of the island. The thought of him took Hiccups mind off the newly crafted fin. His stomach gurgled in the silence. He was probably hungry as well.

The sun was not yet threatening the darkness of dawn, but soon, people would start to appear and he couldn't be seen walking through town with a large basket of fish from the storehouse, and a strange leather contraption. People would start asking questions, and questions from other Vikings would be bad. He raced through the trees, following his map and the lay of the land as he moved on. The darkness would have been awful had it not been for the lantern he made for himself last birthday. The orange glow from behind the imported glass danced across the crowns of trees, giving an effect of twilight. Hiccup was getting used to the signs of the trees, the specific boulders that lay untouched. He was beginning to familiarize himself with the route he took. He was slow, thanks due to the weighty basket and the new fin, and the limited vision he had. The path was slow if not troublesome. He however, had all the reason in the world to keep moving. He carried the future for his friend and he was going to get it to to him.

Fog started to collect around him as he trudged along, the sun was rising then. He had just reached the lip of the gorge when it started to disperse. The walk was good in that it gave him time to think of what to call his new friend. He didn't know if he had a name at all, but he figured some sort of title would be good. He had thought over all the unique characteristics he had, before smiling as the name fell into place.

"He'll love it." He remarked to his baggage.

"Hey Toothless~..." Hiccups voice trailed off as he dumped his cargo on the ground, spilling out the collection of seafood. 'Toothless', as Hiccup as dubbed him, perked up at the sudden appearance of a buffet of food for him. Hiccup couldn't tell if he recognized the use of a name or not. He began listing off the types of fish that he had pilfered. Toothless snarled back and looked horrified when Hiccup listed of there being eel involved.

"No no. Okay." Hiccup plucked out the slimy eel making a crude remark to its disgusting taste. Toothless seemed happy now that the intruding culprit was removed, as he moved back in for his breakfast. Hiccup slowly made his way to his rear, moving down the length of his tail, before stopping at his fin. He placed down the fin he made and moved it next to the tail. With each movement towards the tail, Toothless scooted over more, until the point where Hiccup had to sit himself on his tail in order to attach the fin. Looking over his work, he admired how the new fin seemed to fit the design and shape of the natural one. It could do with some improvement, but for the time being it looked to do the part.

Hiccup probably should have been paying attention the amount of fish left over and how Toothless felt the sudden weight on his tail, for as soon as the new fin was strapped into position, Hiccup found himself holding on for his life as the ground quickly appeared very far away. He screamed in fear as he held onto his life line, looking back at the fin to see it was flapping uselessly in the strong wind. The other fin was out and spread, but the new fin was drooping. He reached out to pull it open, hoping it would work, so that he wouldn't die as the ground loomed closer and closer. He yanked open the fin, catching the air justly, firing the duo into the sky and out of the gorge.

As Hiccup held onto both the fin and tail, he looked around and gasped as he saw how high he was now. He tilted the fin to see the effects, finding the angle caused Toothless to drop down and into a low right banking maneuver, over top the glistening pond. He cried out in joy. He had cured his friend of his ailment for lacking flight. He had saved his friend.

"Yes! Yes I did it!" He was overjoyed with how successful it was, he didn't notice as Toothless looked back and flung the boy from his tail. Hiccup went sailing through the air, splashing harmlessly in the water, choking back the sudden waters. He flopped around, yelling out in joy at his work. Toothless, without the boy to hold the fin, flopped uselessly in the air, landing with a mighty splash in the water as well. The freedom of air was close, but so far away.

Hiccup heaved himself onto shore. His day was off to a great start. He had just gotten his friend back in the air, even though there was a slight issue with falling. It still worked! He was exasperated. He took off his wet tunic, leaving it to dry in the sun as he stretched out on the dry grass. For some reason, all his visits with Toothless would end up getting Hiccup soaked. Toothless had taken his time in swimming to shore, stretching himself out beside the boy.

Hiccup took the moment to test something. "Toothless?"

The dragon grunted at the boy. 'Did it recognize it as my name for him?' Hiccup was surprised the dragon would have picked up on it so easily. His thoughts ran back to his dream the night before. "Last night I had a strange dream." Hiccup swore he heard something akin to a chuckle come from the dragon. "I was approached by a dragon, with a missing tail fin." He found it oddly simple to just talk to his friend. He didn't know if he knew what he was saying or if it even made sense, but he felt comfortable talking to him none the less.

The question rose up in his throat, "Was that dragon, you?"

He turned his head to look at Toothless. Toothless looked back at the boy, with a gummy smile, and a gentle nod. Hiccup felt shocked, thinking that the dragon may have shared his dream. "How-" Nobody knew anything about dragons, so he just blamed himself if something new came as a shock to find out about them.

He collected on the words Toothless spoke to him then,

'...we now share a deeper friendship, which due in part explains my presence...'

He moved himself into a sitting position, water droplets fell from his skin as he moved. He stared into the ponds surface. "Last night, I came to accept that your being here-" He waved his arm around the walls in showing what he meant. He knew his friend could understand him, after all, he understood him in his dream. "Your being here, is my fault, my doing. So I took it upon myself once again to right my wrong." In the time that Hiccup was speaking, Toothless had picked himself up and moved over to the boy, sitting beside him. "I'm-" He looked up to his companion, "I-m sorry. For everything."

Toothless looked to the boy, who had a deeply mournful sadness in his eyes. Toothless sat himself in front of the boy, gaining his attention. When the boy looked up, Toothless waved his new tail fin in front of him, showing the boy what he had accomplished. "Yes, but it only lasted when I held it open. When I was gone, you fell too." He looked away from his friend, his work having failed. "I was hoping for something more, lasting." He turned out the last word, finding the right term. The dragon huffed at the boys resignation. Hiccup was stubborn at best, and a project like this would be seen to the very end. "I will get you back in the air." He looked back at his friend, "That's a promise." Toothless snorted and gave Hiccup his gummy smile.

The two sat on the waters edge for quite some time. Hiccup had taken to gathering some wood and piling it together. Clouds were forming and they were blocking out the warm sun.

"Hey." He pointed to the bundle of sticks that lay on the ground. "Could you, light this, maybe?" He didn't want to suddenly bombard his friend with dragon-ey requests, but a simple flame would be fine, surely. Toothless rolled from his sun bathing, and squinted at the boy, then at the pile of sticks. He heaved himself over and sent the tiniest gout of fire into the center of the wood, lighting it from within. "Ah!" Hiccup jumped back at the intensity the fire burned with, moving back from the blaze. "He looked over to see his friend sporting a cheesy grin, satisfied with the boys reaction.

"Thank you." Hiccup replied flatly. Surely fire was not a game to him?

Hiccup moved his soaked tunic and vest to a flat rock, steaming them with the intense blaze.

'The dragon fire must be giving it unnatural energy.' He conjectured, for the fire burned with a hint of a bluish colour.

At the moment, Toothless had moved himself beside the boy, who was staring intently into the flames. The dragon had raised his right paw and was stretching it out over the flames, letting the tongues of orange and blue lick his claws and scales. Hiccup watched this and thought back to the night when he had connected with the Night Fury, how he had warmed his body with the flames, without scarring. "That same thing, happened to me." He spoke out softly, not wishing to disturb the quiet that had settled around the two. The dragon removed his paw, looking over boy with an expression of curiosity. He wanted Hiccup to go on. He didn't know what to tell him, or how he should tell him, so he just started with his entering the house.

He told his friend how he had sat by the fire and felt his own pull and push with the flames, how he had felt the energy and passion, the love and care that was carried with it. He told Toothless how he had sat there for who knows how long, and had found himself with his hand over the flames.

He told him how he had felt no pain, or suffered any damage, instead feeling good; warm from the gentle licks. How he had felt the warmth of the blaze flow through him and spread out into his limbs and body. Toothless listened on, as the boy talked about how the fire brought back memories and feelings his mother would have of him, how she would caress him and make him warm when he returned home, cold, and dejected. Toothless listened on, as Hiccup recounted how the fire had warmed his heart, knowing that know one else would have cared for him as much as mother did, how his village rejected him for who he was. Eventually, with nothing left to say, but his inner sadness, Hiccup talked about how Toothless was his first friend he has ever had.

Hiccup sat there, staring into the flames, tears rolling down his cheeks. His mind was brought back, as he felt a gentle nudge to his side. He looked over, and saw Toothless looking evenly at him. He found himself being wrapped up in a cocoon of warm scales as Toothless curled around the boy, protecting him from the world that rejected him. For the first time in countless years, Hiccup felt safe, with his friend there for him.

*Uht* = The time period between Morning, and Midnight - (Early dawn/twilight)