6/28/10

A/N Getting into the groove of the story a bit more. The reviews are very helpful, thank you very much!


Stoick said he had to leave, that there were things that needed looking into. Hiccup suspected he simply wanted to get out of the house, away from him; his dad could barely tolerate him when things were normal.

"You're not going to leave me alone with him are you?" he asked his dad anxiously gesturing to the dragon curled up in the corner, where it was almost constantly sighing and groaning miserably, eyes never leaving Hiccup.

Stoick sighed. "Hiccup, do you trust me?"

The boy thought for a moment then replied, "Yeah, of course I do."

"Then can you trust that I know that dragon doesn't wish you any harm, and in fact, would do anything to keep you safe?"

Hiccup swallowed nervously. "Ok."

"Good. And maybe try to talk to him."

"Why?"

"Because I think he misses you. And it might help you to remember something." He placed his hand on the door to leave.

"Dad?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think I'm ever going to remember again?"

"I don't know, Hiccup," Stoick replied softly. "But I'll do whatever I can to see that you do. I swear that to you." Then the chief slipped outside and closed the door quietly behind him.

Hiccup was left sitting on the bed, staring down at his feet. Or rather foot and the glaring lack of a second. His hand gingerly touched the wooden socket that fit around the stump. Slowly he traced down to the metal support. It was unlike anything he'd ever seen, complete with intricate spring tension to give a slight bounce and a curved base. It looked like something he would make.

"Finally killed a dragon. Got a battle scar to show for it. And I don't remember a blasted thing," he murmured to himself. In the corner the dragon's head popped up, ears twitching. "Wasn't talking to you," he said unkindly. The dragon's mouth seemed to sag and he dropped his head back onto his paws, with almost comical sadness. "I'm sorry," Hiccup said with a strange sensation of guilt. "That was…not like me. I'm just really…talking to a dragon!" He slapped his hand to his forehead.

Concerned, Toothless stood up and padded over, poking at the boy with a whine.

"Stop doing that!" Hiccup cried, but the dragon only poked harder. "What do you want from me?"

Toothless sniffed at Hiccup's hand, and then lowered his head, presenting the wide flat top. Hesitantly, Hiccup laid his hand against it. It was surprisingly warm. The dragon began to purr and gently pressed up against the hand, eyes half-closed.

Slowly, Hiccup dragged the palm down between the eyes and the back up. This seemed to please the dragon, as it chuffed and moved closer, twisting slightly to the right making Hiccup's hand slide over his ear to the neck. Getting the idea, Hiccup allowed his fingers to dig lightly against the dragon's hard scales. It was a strange, but not unpleasant, feeling. He saw that the large tail was swishing slowly while the rest of his body quivered excitedly.

"You really like this, huh? Have an itch you can't scratch?"

Without even thinking about it, Hiccup brought his left hand up to work under the beast's jaw. Almost instantly the dragon flopped over with a thud.

"Well that was unexpected," Hiccup said dryly. He gently tapped the inert body with the toe of his boot, which only elicited a contented groan. "Just think if we'd known about that before."


"Can't remember anything?"

"Nothing since the last raid. I don't understand, how could this happen?"

The old blacksmith absently twisted the hammer that was currently serving as his left hand. "Well he had a dragon's egg sized bump on the back of his head. That's bound to shift things around a bit." He knocked on his skull with his good hand. "Have had a few myself."

"But you never lost any time."

Gobber the Belch shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe I have and just didn't know it."

"What should I do?"

"Get him back out there. Get him on that dragon."

"He can't fly like this," Stoick insisted.

"Eh, fly, no, probably not a good idea. But, just let him sit on the beast. Here, I've been saving these for when Hiccup woke up." He went into the back of the shop and returned with arms full of leather gear and a bright red replacement tailfin. "These are from his own plans. Maybe seeing them will remind him of something."

"Thank you," Stoick said to his friend.


Toothless, finally roused from his stupor, stood quietly regarding Hiccup, who in turn was allowing his natural curiosity overtake the fearful panic he'd been nursing since he work up. Standing up, he steadied himself on the bed frame, tensing as he waited for the pain in his leg as he bore down on it. It wasn't as great as last time, and he let out a relieved breath, though balance was proving to be something of a challenge and he'd occasionally totter unsurely. When this happened Toothless would lean forward protectively.

"So, you're a Night Fury?" Hiccup asked when he felt steady. "Not really as impressive as I'd imagined."

The dragon growled deep in his throat, showing his teeth.

"Ok, ok, very impressive. Sorry, Mr. Sensitive." He smiled at this own words. It felt…natural. Maybe his dad had been right. Hesitantly he reached out and touched the side of the dragon's face, almost expecting the beast to turn violent and bite the hand off, but he just sat patiently and crooned softly when Hiccup touched him. Hiccup began exploring, touching the hard ridges on his back, and then a leg. Obligingly, Toothless spread out a massive wing, and Hiccup felt the strong leathery membrane and the strong muscles beneath. Finally he examined the tail that Toothless presented to him so he wouldn't have to kneel on the ground, fingers gently tracing the scar tissue where the left half of the bilateral fin used to be.

"I did this, didn't I?" he asked quietly. "This was my fault."

Toothless whined and sniffed at his hair, seeming to try to comfort him. The he lowered his head and sniffed at Hiccup's leg. "Think that makes us even?" Shrugging, he said, "Maybe it does." He pursed his lips in thought. "Dad says we used to fly. Wonder what that was like."

The dragon's ears perked up and he began to dance around in a circle excitedly.

Hiccup couldn't help but laugh. "That good, huh?"

Toothless began darting around the house, sniffing and poking at things. Items were tossed aside and broken. "Hey, calm down, ok?" Hiccup tried to tell him, but the dragon wasn't listening. Finally he seemed to have found what he was looking for and came back to Hiccup with something in his mouth. Hiccup stared for a few seconds before reaching out to take it. "My notebook!" Toothless pressed his nose at it, pushing both it and Hiccup to the bed, where he sat down heavily.

Hiccup opened the book, flipping past sketches and doodles he'd made over the years. He paused at the scratched out map of Raven's Point, regarding it with a frown, before turning the page with a gasp. Sitting next to him, Toothless seemed to be staring at the drawing with equal intensity. Hiccup's fingers gently traced over the crude but effective sketch: the head, the wings, the tail with the left tailfin that had been smudged out then obviously redrawn with a more firm, distinct hand.

He looked up at Toothless. "I drew this." He closed his eyes, trying to will the memory of drawing it to the front of his mind, imagining his hand making the marks. He groaned in frustration. "Why? Why can't I remember?" Toothless offered no answer. Flipping the page he saw more drawings, schematics for the artificial tailfin and a riding assembly. He saw his own handwritten notes about needing to make the fin articulating, and designs for the complicated pull-line system needed to do it, fairly impressed with his other self's ingenuity. Even muttering without thinking, "I would have never thought of that."

After several pages of plans, he came to more sketches of the dragon in various states: curled up napping, wings out and rearing up on his back legs, hanging upside down. The last drawing in the book was another two-page spread and was a side view, illustrating the dragon in flight, with a passenger on his back. Not much detail was given to the passenger, and Hiccup wasn't surprised; he would never devote much effort to depicting himself, but the dragon was rendered with such loving detail his heart began to beat faster in response, as if he were experiencing the flight with him. Below the sketch were three words, hastily scribbled: Toothless flies again!