7/9/10


Hiccup trudged over the blanket of pine needles that covered the forest, each step seemingly taking more effort than the last. He wasn't familiar with this part of the island, but he was reasonably certain he was at least headed in the right direction. His shoulders were slumped and he found himself repeatedly sighing dejectedly.

"What is wrong with me? Why do I have to sabotage everything?" Suddenly he lifted his arms and spoke with a booming voice: "Hiccup Haddock, you've just defeated a great dragon and became a hero to your entire tribe! What are you going to do now?" Dropping his arms he plastered a large smile on his face and spoke in his normal voice: "Why, I'm going to alienate the hot Viking girlfriend I didn't know I had!"

With a groan, he kicked at a stray pine cone with his right foot; however the inertia shifted his weight unsteadily on his prosthetic leg which sent him crashing down onto his backside with a yelp. "Well this is just perfect," he said evenly, as he stared up into the darkening canopy of trees overhead. "The Gods must be trying to tell me something."

As if in response, he heard a distant crackling of branches being snapped and underbrush being upturned. He pushed himself up on one arm and peered into the dense foliage. The sun was sitting heavily in the Western sky, and the forest offered nothing but shadows for him to see. Was a bear out there? Worse, was the bear coming over here? The sound was becoming uncomfortably louder and he tried to push himself up quickly, but he still wasn't used to the new leg and kept getting in his own way. Suddenly the shadows leaped out at him causing him to yell out in surprise as an expanse of dark wings and vivid green eyes descended on him.

But instead of being consumed, a great nose was pressed against him sniffing and mumbling anxiously. "Toothless," he sighed in relief, using the dragon's head as leverage to pull himself up. "You scared the daylights out of me." Looking down he saw the bundled saddle and tailfin at his feet where the dragon had dropped it. "What are you even doing here? How did you know where I was?"

But the question hadn't even left his lips when he knew the answer. Scrunching up his face, he groaned and struck his thigh with a closed fist. "Astrid sent you, didn't she? Even after everything I said to her, she was still worried?" Toothless offered no comment on his current relationship woes and instead bent down and nudged the bundle with his nose, looking up at Hiccup expectantly.

"What?" He looked down at the brown and crimson bundle. He supposed riding dragonback would be considerably easier than walking. Sighing, he unwound the gear and separated them out. Toothless had already settled down on all fours to give him easier access. As Hiccup worked the various straps on the saddle, he talked out loud. "I really blew it. It's been such a crazy day. Not remembering, and then being near her…and smelling her! Do you have any idea how amazingly good girls smell? And then she kissed me! Who goes around just randomly kissing people?" He paused, brows furrowed. "Is it even supposed to go like this?" Shrugging, he finished off the last strap. "Ok. That's that." He slipped the riding harness over his head and cinched it tight. "Let's get going."

Toothless crooned and used his tail to nudge the prosthetic fin. "Well why do you need that? We're just going back to the village." But the dragon was insistent. Hiccup frowned. It really didn't make much sense to carry it back, when he'd probably need both hands to hold on anyway. "Fine, fine," he muttered and picked up the webbed fin, looking it over with a critical eye. Once again he was mildly impressed at his own ingenuity.

Buckling it to the end of the dragon's tail, he said, "Really it's all for the best anyway. I mean with a cracked head and half a leg, I'm not exactly the catch of the day. I'm like, oh you know, one of those smoked eels." Toothless growled low. "Right! Yeah, they're nasty. I should just change my name to Hiccup the Eel." Wryly he shook his head at his own stupid joke. He was drawing the pull-lines taut and attaching them to the saddle's foot control, when Toothless poked him on the back of the neck. "Hold on, hold on, I think I've got this right. I only looked at the designs once."

He stood back and brushed his hands together. "Happy now?" The dragon shook his head in satisfaction, and then dropped his left shoulder. Hiccup walked over, took a steadying breath, gripped the saddle and pulled himself up onto his stomach. Then he swung his right leg over the saddle until he was straddling the dragon's shoulders. Looking down he slipped the curved end of the prosthetic into the modified foot pedal. Finally he hooked the two safety lines to the saddle.

"All right. Just take us home the same way you got here, only maybe not as fast. I mean it looked like you were tearing through there at - WHOOOOOOOOOA!"

Hiccup's head snapped back as Toothless launched himself vertically into the air. He could feel the wind blowing his hair back, and felt like his stomach had been left on the ground. Holding onto the saddle for dear life he screamed uncontrollably. "Wait, wait, what are you doingOHMYGODS!"

Even though it seemed that Toothless was going to climb forever, he suddenly lost momentum and began hurtling back to the ground, the dragon's own cries joining his. "OHNOOHNOOHNO!" Hiccup had lost track of up or down, but he caught sight of the foot control out of the corner of his eye. The sketches in his book came back to him and he closed his eyes tightly trying to figure out what they meant. Realizing he'd never be able to decipher the doodling in time, he blindly started kicking the control into gear. The first one ceased the headlong dive to the ground and sent them into a diagonal spiral

falling

that made him shriek even louder as a cool silver panic grew inside of him, seeping into his limbs and cinching around his heart. A second click stopped the spin and allowed them to soar horizontally, but they were hanging upside down. Gritting his teeth he went forward once more, and after a half a revolution, slid it back.

They weren't descending anymore. The great beast's wings undulated strongly, moving them forward steadily towards the horizon. Hiccup couldn't see the ground below anymore. The island was behind them now. He looked back and saw

teeth

it receding in the darkening sky.

"Why would you do that, you stupid, stupid dragon!" Hiccup yelled furiously, nearly choking on the panic inside. "Are you trying to get us both killed!" Toothless twisted his head quickly causing his ears to flop around. Hiccup was panting heavily, his face red from fear and anger. "Did you think that would do it? Did you think that would bring him back? Huh? He's not coming back!" he shrieked.

Twisting in his seat, he suddenly had urgent need to check the tailfin,

fireburningtattered

afraid he hadn't attached it properly, but the buckles remained secured. They were safe for the moment.

He faced the front again and closed his eyes forcing the panic away, trying to tamp it down and regain control. Nothing was going to be solved by yelling hysterically at a dragon in flight. "I'm sorry," he said clenching his teeth. "I'm sorry. You just scared me."

At this he allowed himself to open his eyes and look around. The sky was nearly purple with starbursts of orange and gold from the setting sun. Below, the sea churned darkly with the occasional flashes of whitecaps. The wind on his face was moist and cool, and he could feel it drying the tears he hadn't even realized he'd shed.

He was riding a dragon, after all. This made him smile. He hadn't had the opportunity to enjoy the ride earlier in the day, but now it was actually pretty nice, serene even. He hunkered down against Toothless and let his mind drift. He didn't want to think about disappointed fathers or killing giant dragons or beautiful, but volatile Viking girls. He allowed himself to have just a moment of peace and tranquility.

Toothless honked loudly, rousing him from his reverie. He could feel the dragon's body trying to twist to the right, but their course didn't alter. "All right, I hope this does the trick," he said uncertainly as he flicked the control back once more. He cringed and strengthened his grip in case, but dragon simply banked right gracefully. "Ok, good. So that means…" He popped it back once more and they jerked to the left, Toothless braying in consternation. "Ok, ok, just checking," he said quickly as he readjusted correctly.

When they circled around to the opposite direction, Hiccup pushed forward so that they were again traveling straight, only this time they were headed back to the island. "You realize I have no idea how to land?" Hiccup asked him with a frown. The dragon's head simply bobbed eagerly.

Berk loomed ahead, the evening fires already lit. Hiccup crouched down as Toothless approached, heading dangerously close to the edge of the tree line. "Hey, uh, Toothless, don't you think we should avoid those?" he asked anxiously, but the dragon held firm. "Eh, where's down?" he muttered looking at his foot just as a large branch slapped him in the face. "Ah!" he cried throwing a hand up in front of him.

They barreled just past the trees as Hiccup slid the foot control all the way forward. Suddenly they were slanted downward at a sickening angle. "Whoa!" Hiccup called out as the ground came up faster than he could have imagined. Toothless shrieked and tensed his whole body before landing on the open pasture with a hard thump causing several sheep to jump in surprise. The restraining harness kept Hiccup from flying over the top of the dragon, and instead he crashed forward and planted his face on the back of Toothless' skull. "Ow," he moaned as he sat upright, feeling his battered, but thankfully unbroken nose throb.

Releasing the safety lines, he slid down to the ground, wobbling against Toothless for a moment as he reoriented himself to standing on firm land. "Ok, we'll mark that down as a mild success," he said to the dragon as the pair walked towards his house. Toothless cooed happily in response. "Better than the first one this afternoon."

As he entered the house he felt completely exhausted. And more famished than ever as the smell of the still-simmering stew crept into his nose. His father jumped up as he came in. "By Odin, Hiccup, where have you been? Toothless left hours ago."

"Oh, uh, we, uh, kind of went for a flight." He grabbed a bowl and dipped it into the soup pot. Without bothering with a spoon, he brought the bowl to his lips, blew at the steam tendrils, and then slurped it down.

"Really?" his father asked happily

"Yeah." Hiccup traced his finger around the bowl's edge. "It was kind of ok. I may do it again."

"Good, good," Stoick said. Then his face darkened a bit. "Would you like to talk about what happened with Astrid?"

"No. No, I would very much not like to talk about that right now. Or ever."

"All right," the older man replied quietly.

Hiccup tapped at the bowl anxiously. "Uh, she told me that you disowned me."

Stoick groaned and slapped his hand to his head. "Hiccup, that was before. It's nothing you need to concern yourself with now."

"It's just…I know I haven't been easy to have as a son…I just want you to know I'm going to try and be better for you."

Stoick stepped towards him and placed his hands on Hiccup's shoulders. "Don't. Whatever happens, I'm proud of you. I'm sorry I ever made you feel otherwise." Hiccup could only offer a grateful smile. "Now get yourself to bed; it's been a long day and you look about ready to fall over."


A/N Just a few small things:

- I really have no idea if the animators had specific fin/pedal positions in mind, but I've had to more or less wing it in the descriptions. I can only hope it didn't come out too implausible.

- I borrowed a literary device from one of my favorite authors, purely out of respect and because I really liked the imagery. Again, I hope it wasn't confusing or weird.

- I wasn't sure about the discussion with Stoick. It felt kind of unfair to him since he'd already apologized, but old!Hiccup wouldn't know about that and I didn't think he'd be willing to let it go without mention. Anyway, let's hope Hiccup gets a good night's sleep and tomorrow will be a brighter day :)