Chapter 3: Tension

Toothless's POV (and others along the way)

Toothless fancied himself an intelligent dragon – but right now he felt really stupid.

He knew he should have guessed that Hiccup-helper would react the way she did – after all she had no trouble talking to Hiccup, but the moment Toothless got near her she froze, stiffened, and ran. Clearly, she didn't like dragons. Toothless didn't blame her – Vikings were still trying to get used to dragons as friendly, helpful creatures, (and vice versa) – but he had hoped that Hiccup would be able to at least sway her a little. Maybe if Toothless could get her up on his back, he could change her mind. It had worked with Astrid, after all.

Then, of course, there was Sad-eyes. Toothless had seen her following Hiccup at a distance, always looking at him with a cross of fear and sadness. Toothless sensed that she was afraid of the young Viking, but didn't understand why she couldn't overcome her fear to talk to him. Toothless, looking to help, had taken it upon himself to show her that Hiccup was not a Viking to be feared.

And what was he learning now? Well Hiccup was not a Viking to be feared.

But Hiccup-helper was.

With a croak of surprise as he saw the flash of the axe coming at him, Toothless opened his mouth wide and dropped Sad-eyes onto the hard stone floor of the cave. He backed away, hearing Hiccup shout at him, and bumping his head and wings against the sides of the cave as he did so. The wounds hurt and he moaned pitifully, trying to appear like less of a target.

Just as he had done with Astrid, Hiccup launched himself at Hiccup-helper, tackling the screaming girl from the side and knocking her to the ground. The axe clanged down viciously, scraping the floor with a terrible screech that crossed Toothless' eyes. Hiccup and Hiccup-helper rolled on the ground for a moment, wrestling, Hiccup trying to keep her from the axe, and she trying to throw him off. Down on the ground, Sad-eyes took one look at the scuffling pair and bolted for the exit.

Oh, no you don't. Toothless stretched out a wing to stop her before she got too far, and then shoved her rather ungainly back into the cave. She looked at him with betrayed eyes and he looked back. You are going to talk to him this time.

Hiccup-helper finally got free of Hiccup and threw herself this time at Sad-eyes, taking the girl to the ground and curling up around her, sobbing helplessly. Hiccup – who had gotten his hands on the axe, slumped against the wall, breathing heavily, his face white with pain. "Toothless…" he croaked, "go outside."

Toothless, now feeling guilty and dejected on top of stupid, pulled himself out of the cave and settled protectively at the mouth, staring off into nothing.

Thistle didn't think she'd ever been so scared in her life.

In one swift go, she had seen Stone try to attack Toothless, actually attack Hiccup, and then tackle her in such a way that she could barely breathe, much less react to everything else happening around her. She had barely kept up – Toothless had made only one thing clear: she wasn't getting out. Though now the dragon was no longer filling the entrance to the cave.

That doesn't matter. Stone isn't going to let you go.

Thistle managed to wriggle around Stone in such a way as to hug the girl back, bringing her red face to her shoulder and letting her cry. She didn't need to ask the girl what was wrong, or tell her that everything was all right. It wouldn't do any good. So she just stroked Stone's hair and waited for the jag to pass.

Her eyes traced the dimly-lit cave, alighting finally on Hiccup. He leaned heavily on the wall, clutching Stone's axe, watching the two of them with wide eyes. A thin sheen of sweat brought soot to his brown, and his brown hair tangled messily about his face. His face looked unnaturally pale in the firelight, and only then did she see one of his hands gripping his leg where the stump met the prosthetic. The whole attack had gone by in a blur, but a faint flicker passed through her mind – Hiccup leaping at Stone off of his left leg. She flinched horribly as she began to realize he had thrown himself off of his bad leg, and her guilt multiplied. I shouldn't have come here. I've made things worse.

Thistle lowered her head to Stone's shoulder.

"Um. Are...you all right?"

A slight surge of adrenaline ran through Thistle's body, followed by an overwhelming sense of panic. Who was he talking to, her or Stone? To find out, she would have to look at him And that took more courage than she had.

"Excuse me. Are you all right? Did Toothless hurt you?"

His voice became a little more insistent, but the words were clear. The question was directed to her. Hiccup was talking to her.

Don't answer him.

Hiccup felt pretty stupid too, though for very different reasons than Toothless.

He had yet to conquer instinct, it seemed. Being left-dominant and crippled on the left side presented a deeply painful, highly irritating problem that did not hesitate to cause him issues. While his right hand clutched Stone's axe, desperately trying to keep it from the sobbing girl, Hiccup's left hand squeezed the top of his stump, trying to cut off the nerves throbbing against the metal. The bandages chafed – it would be time to change them soon – and he would need to check the straps too, since it felt like they'd picked up dirt that was now rubbing into his skin. But the biggest problem right now came from the blinding pain coursing up and down his leg from the violent rubbing and twisting as a result from taking his weight. The raw skin prickled his eyes with tears that he refused to shed, (he was a man after all).

This had to be a punishment for meddling in Stone's affairs. But Hiccup didn't doubt his reasoning or his choice for a second. In the past few months, he had changed greatly – from a naïve young Viking to a young Viking hero. He had made enemies of friends and friends of enemies – and he'd even been kissed by the cutest girl in Berk. But he had also become a little blind, a little too focused on Toothless and not focused on anything else. It was why Astrid had started not talking to him as much and why he had failed to notice Stone's pain earlier. He needed, he knew, to come back to the village of Berk and stop flying around in the woods and the surf. Stone, like him, was in a great deal of pain. And he could help her. He wanted to, for reasons he couldn't even name.

Beyond Stone, there was the mysterious girl that Toothless had so boldly carried into the cave. Hiccup had never before seen his dragon pick someone up like a baby and carry them. He had also noticed that Toothless purposefully blocked the entrance of the cave, preventing the girl from running out. It almost seemed like Toothless had deliberately brought her in and was forcibly keeping her in there, like he was protecting her. Or…bringing her out of hiding.

Hiccup wasn't sure how he felt about that theory. Being a person people could talk to did not bother him, but suddenly in one night he had been thrust into the lives of two girls in just as much pain as he. Or so it seemed. Was group therapy even something a Viking would do?

Group therapy or not, it bugged him that the mysterious girl wasn't talking. He had a feeling she was the aforementioned Thistle – the friend he had 'abandoned' when he was a kid. He could barely remember that – but when he really, really thought about it, a faint memory came through of green eyes and a soft, bright smile and a pair of small hands holding a right sock.

"The troll took my other one."

"Well, let's go get it back!"

And then something…about a death. "Leave them alone, Hiccup. They have to pick themselves up."

Hiccup opened his eyes to see the girl still turned away from him. Did I do that? Did I have a choice?

He had to say something. "So…I didn't expect that…I'll stop Toothless from doing that again. I'm sorry it scared you."

Well – that didn't work.

Still sobbing, Stone lifted her head from maybe-Thistle's shoulder – and started screaming at him.

Stone suddenly couldn't control her anger. The wall that blocked her emotions let anger pass it and she couldn't do anything about it. She felt as though her true self had been pushed to the back of her mind, only able to watch in horror at what her body did. She attacked the dragon. She attacked her "new friend". And more horribly, she started to attack her best friend. Stone's real personality fought to the surface as she made contact with Thistle's body, and managed to do so, but only by breaking the emotional wall she had built entirely.

Stone craved to be recognized and understood, but at the same time she wanted people to mind their own business. It didn't make sense, even to her, but those rules controlled her life. She'd fight to bring attention to herself and for people to understand her, but when people tried to get close to her she'd panic and push them away. Stone had managed to hide all her emotions behind a wall in her eyes for years (to everyone but Thistle who could read anyone like an open book) but after her parents died, emotions had started leaking out. Pain and sadness most importantly. But this Hiccup person had managed to push her to her limit and she had had to push through the wall she had crafted.

It was overwhelming, all the emotions she felt as she connected with Thistle. The attacking feeling left but new feelings replaced it. Sadness about what she had just done. Fear over what could have happened. Anger at herself, at Hiccup, and at his dragon. Extreme relief that her friend was okay, and many other emotions. A floodgate of long-held emotional tears opened as she wrapped her arms around Thistle and held onto her with all she had.

Stone felt them crash to the floor and Thistle struggle to get her arms out of her grip. She loosened her grip a little so Thistle could do so and was comforted when she felt them wrap around her instead of pushing her away. Stone sobbed long and hard into Thistle's shoulder when Hiccup's voice broke her thoughts. She only caught the end of his statement but what she did hear enraged her.

"…from doing that again. I'm sorry it scared you."

Stone raised her head from Thistle's shoulder, with tears still streaming steadily down her cheeks and a new fire in her eyes.

"Scared me? Scared me?! It terrified me!" she screamed. Hiccup's face tightened and Stone could tell her was as angry as her.

"What-You don't think that you attacking Toothless and me didn't scare me as well?!" he screamed back. Stone unwound herself from Thistle's grip and stood before him, looking threatening, even though she was still crying.

"I only attacked you both because he made me so scared and angry that I couldn't control myself!"

"How did he make you that scared and angry?!" he questioned, still screaming at her.

"That dragon carried in my best friend in his mouth for crying out loud! It looked like he wanted to show us his prey before he ate it!" her voice raised pitch slightly over the words 'best friend', and 'mouth'.

"Toothless wouldn't eat somebody!" he defended.

"What's your proof!?!!" Stone bared her teeth and clenched her fist so tight that her fingernails almost broke the skin of her palms, trying to stop crying.

"You can ride him! He wouldn't be able to hurt you on his back-even if he wanted to-which he wouldn't!" Stone's eyes widened. She had always dreamed of flying. But if riding a dragon, the monster of her nightmares, was the only way, she wasn't sure if she ever would be able to fly. But Stone had heard all the Viking's who had 'adopted' dragons say that it was an amazing sensation while walking through the village.

Seeing her contemplate what he'd said gave Hiccup a small sense of triumph but he didn't let Stone see it in fear that she'd just get angrier. Stone relaxed into a more natural position and watched Hiccup do the same.

"That's not PROOF, that's a way to make me face my fears," she grumbled, giving him one last smoldering glare before turning back around and crouching next to Thistle.

"Are you alright Thistle?" Stone whispered, knowing that Thistle didn't like talking to anyone besides her.

"I'm completely and totally fine, Stone," Thistle whispered so quietly that Stone had to strain to hear her. Stone knew that Thistle was probably telling the truth about herself physically, but definitely not emotionally. Those were two entirely different things with Thistle but Stone didn't press her. She knew that being around Hiccup must be painful for her.

"Are you sure that dragon didn't physically hurt you in anyway? That I didn't hurt you physically in anyway?" Stone pleaded.

"Yes," Thistle insisted. Stone let out a sigh of relief. Stone knew that Thistle was a strong girl, but she just looked so- so delicate, that it was hard for Stone to remember her strength.

Stone stood back up and offered her hand to Thistle to help her stand, feeling Hiccup's eyes on her back the entire time. Thistle gratefully accepted the hand and pulled herself up, still refusing to look at Hiccup. Stone looked at Hiccup, straight in the face and saw he looked slightly annoyed.

"Are you Thistle? Please answer me," he suddenly demanded.

Thistle remained silent however and still wouldn't look in his general direction. Stone elbowed her lightly in the side and whispered: "Come on, talk to him! You know you've wanted to for a long time Now's your chance! You can do it."

Thistle took a deep breath and looked into Stone's eyes deeply for a second, as if testing if she was lying or not, then turned to Hiccup. She didn't look at him in the face, but she looked at him so it still counted as progress.

"Yes," she answered quietly.

Stone glanced at Hiccup to see his reaction – it would be interesting to see what he would do when confronted with the girl whose friendship he threw away twelve years ago. Stone herself hadn't really met Thistle until the girls were eight and it had taken Stone days to get her to say anything at all other than a nod. A few weeks more had finally revealed at least some of the reasons behind Thistle's silence – and one of those reasons had indeed been Hiccup's abandonment. Taken alone, Stone had no doubt that Thistle could have handled it. But the timing had been just as bad…

At any rate, the expression on Hiccup's face was enough for Stone. It was a cross of terrible guilt and harsh determination. Whatever he was feeling, he was clearly trying to overcome it. Glancing back at Thistle, Stone saw that she had returned her gaze longingly to the mouth of the cave. She nudged the girl again, but Thistle only flinched. Stone sighed heavily and leaned over to whisper to her. "Hiccup's different now than he was."

"Look, uh...." Hiccup spoke up, sounding like he was searching for words. "Thistle, I...I don't...."

"You don't remember me so it doesn't matter," Thistle said in a rush that astounded Stone. She barely had time to look at her friend before Thistle clapped a hand over her mouth and turned away, reddening badly.

Hiccup recovered much quicker. "No, no! No, it...does matter. It matters to you. I can see that. So...I know I can't...really say much in apology...but I'm sorry. And...if you want to try and be friends again I'm willing. If you are."

Thistle didn't reply - she was too busy trying to burn a hole through the floor of the cave with her eyes. Stone nudged her, but she still didn't respond. So - Stone replied for her. "Don't take it personally, Hiccup. It took me days to get a single word out of her."

Thistle cast a betrayed stare at her, but Stone just looked back with a 'well, what did you expect?' glare.

"Well, when we go to the hill, she can come with us," Hiccup joined Stone's method of talking about Thistle as though she wasn't there. "If she wants."

The two looked at Thistle again - and this time the tiny girl gave just a fraction of a nod.

"Good," Stone said, trying not to think about everything 'the hill' would entail. Dragons. And what was scarier - wild dragons or friendly dragons? What would happen later on when she would pick the plant, turn around, and look into the eyes of a dragon that would want her to ride it?

The fear was almost enough to keep her in the cave. But she was a Viking. And Hiccup's bravery and complete confidence came as a huge boost.

She'd be fine...right?