Ok, this is my first attempt in making a one-shot. It might be bad, it might be good. I guess you'll just have to read to find out :)

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters presented in this story. All of them are owned by Dreamworks animation and/or Cressida Cowell.

READ ON!

-Dreamguard-

I woke up screaming

My sweaty right hand making it's way on my chest. I was breathing rapidly and my heart was pounding like a hammer against the inside of my chest, cold sweat pouring down my face as I looked around the room.

"I can't keep going like this"

The same nightmare had repeated itself several times during the past week. It had started immediately after my father gave me that dragon doll from my mother. It was a valued present for me, it was the only thing left of my mother.

But at this rate that one thing might just shred my mind to pieces.

Ever since Stoick gave me the soft baby dragon doll I've been having this strange nightmare about a woman and dragons that repeated itself every night, getting worse and worse as it did. I was starting to become afraid of going to sleep. I just couldn't risk seeing that nightmare even once more, it was too awful already.

But I knew that was impossible. Without sleep I would die to exhaustion in just about a week. I had to sleep but in these circumstances it seemed impossible.

I looked down at my hands, observing as the small beads of sweat slowly rolled down my arm and finally ended up on my blanket, the soft fabric absorbing the wet substance in a matter of seconds. "What have I ever done to deserve this?" I thought as I raised my look to take a quick glance around the room.

Toothless was staring at me from his stone with a worried look on his face. On the previous nights he had rushed to me every time I woke up, just to see what had happened, and each time he was also very close of knocking me out of bed. Of course I had had to explain him what I was going through and now he didn't rush to me anymore, just stared at me with that same look every time I happened to have one of my nightmares.

I groaned in frustration and could even feel a tear forming in the corner of my eye. "Why does this have to happen. I've never done anything wrong to deserve this"

Thank god my father doesn't know about this though. Every time I wake up at night my father is sleeping like a rock downstairs, not to mention we have a thick wooden floor between us. If my father knew about this I'd get no peace what so ever. Ever since I got famous of training dragons my father has become even more overprotective of me so every time something happens, he's always the first and the last one around.

I looked to my left, my eyesight getting blurry from the moisture in them. There it was, in the corner of my table.

I reached out a trembling arm and took the toy in my hands, observing the soft creature, grazing the back of its head. There is no way I'm going to give up this toy, no matter if it's the cause of my nightmares or not. "Mom..."

As The word slipped off my lips I could also feel a tear rolling down my cheek "What have you done to me..."

The next thing I noticed was that my teary eyes were greeted by a pair of green ones, looking worriedly at me. Toothless sat down in front on me on the floor like a human would, his head almost reaching the ceiling of the room. He growled at me smoothly, pointing at the doll with his muzzle and lazily swinging his wings.

"Yeah Toothless, I think this is why I've been having those nightmares" I said and Toothless immediately growled at the toy, reaching down to take it from me but I kept it away from his teeth.

"No Toothless, it's ok", I told him and placed the toy back on the table, rubbing my face with my other hand to wipe off the tears.

"I'll have to sleep bud. No matter if I can't. I must try. You go sleep as well okay?" I said and placed my hand on his lowered head. He gave me an approving nod and slowly slid off my grasp, returning to his bed.

I laid back down from my position and closed my eyes, still not quite ready to face the terrors of the night again.

The morning came with a lonely sunray peeking down from the window and straight onto my face.

This morning it didn't bother me though. Actually it was a relief. I hadn't slept at all during the rest of the night and finally I had an excuse to raise from my bed and embrace the regular lifestyle free from horrors.

I pretended to be yawning and stretching my arms like it had been a regular morning. The main reason for this was that I didn't want to worry Toothless. He's my best friend and it's not right if he has to carry my burden inside of him as well.

As usual when I stretched loudly, Tootlhess jumped up from his bed and came to me with a pleading look, this time it just had a bit worry mixed to it. He wanted breakfast like always but he was also worried about me.

"Don't worry bud" I said soothingly, scratching his cheek and smiling at him as well as I could in my current state. "Now let's get us some breakfast" I said quickly, bouncing off my bed and almost tripping as the slight pain on my left leg struck me like it did every morning. Toothless let out a small grunt, offering his head as support.

"Ugh, remind me not to jump out from bed like that. I just hate mornings because of this leg." I told Toothless although I already knew he knew it. You see, every single morning the first few steps with the prosthetic leg cause me a little pain but I've somewhat got used to it. The pain will go away in a few minutes anyway.

We got downstairs and met with my father who casually greeted me as I lunged out of the door with Toothless. He's got used to it. Every morning we would go outside and get some fish for Toothless from the dock and then leave for a morning flight. This morning shall not be an exception.

Once we had got the fish for Toothless from the fishermen, we set off into the air, the chilly morning breeze blowing directly at my face. The breeze was something that made me feel fully awake every single time but today it wasn't quite cutting it.

*Yawn* "Toothless, one more round around Berk and we could land somewhere to rest before we have to go to the academy. I'm way too tired to handle the twins right now in this state." I said after a while, patting his side and changing the position of his tail fin with my metal leg to a position where he could glide. He groaned in response, obviously not happy about the flight stopping earlier it should have. "I'm sorry we have to cut this short bud, I'm just too tired. You know.. nightmares..." I said, getting a response in a form of a huff and a shake of the head. "I'll still take that as a positive answer"

We landed after a while, mostly because I steered Toothless down from the sky by controlling his tail, otherwise he might have just flown all the way to dragon island and back.

I could see Toothless was a little mad at me but that didn't matter right now. Right now I just needed to find a good place to rest my eyes and actually spotted one near Gobber's forge. It was a large haystack with a pitchfork sticking out of it. "Perfect" I thought as I walked the short distance to the stack, my body slumping down on the soft hay and my eyes immediately closing. "Ahh... Hey bud, want to try this out? It's pretty good"

Toothless stuck his head in the hay, pulling it out just a few seconds after and quickly shaking his head. He stared at the pile with a questioning look and then turned to me and gave me a face that simply said: "?"

"Okay, you like dragon nip more, I get it" I replied as I watched Toothless stick his left paw in the hays, pulling it back just as quickly as he had done with his head, again pointing his eyes at me with the same look. "Just try lying down on it. If you just keep touching it quickly it will keep stinging and tickling you, lay down with your entire body. It's soft" I said smoothly, closing my eyes and taking in the voices I could hear all around us. The birds chirping happily on the rooftops and the soft blowing sound from the forge behind us, marking that Gobber had arrived and was now heating up the fire with the bellows.

Gobber had quit making weapons and became a dentist for the dragons but that didn't mean that he didn't still make stuff out of metal and wood. The townsmen and women all still wanted sharpening to their old swords, wanted to repair broken objects etc. He was always busy and that suited him well. Even when he had spare time he didn't usually spend it resting but came to watch us train with the dragons.

I sometimes even had a feeling he wanted a dragon of his own. I mean... He has rode a dragon or two already but still lacks one of his own. Then again, I'm not quite sure getting him a dragon would be a great idea since he wouldn't have much time for it because of his job. Also his wooden leg and arm would make it difficult for him to stay on the dragon.

I was waken from my thoughts as I heard a loud rustling sound behind me, realizing that Toothless had dived IN the haystack instead of lying on top of it. A few seconds passed as I observed his tail that was still wiggling outside the stack, swaying from side to side as the large muscles in his tail were slightly contracted on the other side.

Suddenly I could feel movement around my shoulder as Toothless stuck his head out the stack right next to mine, looking at me with his glowing green eyes and smiling in a way only a dragon could.

I couldn't help but to laugh at him as the view was just too strange to understand. His tail was sticking out at the side of the stack while his head was here next to mine. It looked just like the haystack had grown itself a head and a tail and was just about to walk away.

Toothless looked at me questioningly as I kept on laughing, holding my stomach as I stared at his figure.

He quickly glanced at his body, obviously shocked about the fact it had disappeared. He growled quickly and shook his entire body, flying the hays all over the ground until the pile was nothing but a memory. "Well, there goes my place to sleep"

When even the last bits of hay were off Toothless, he playfully licked his lips and after that my face so I had to stop laughing. "Toothless!" I exclaimed, my face dripping wet of Night fury saliva "Ew..."

Now it was Toothless' turn to laugh at me but I stopped him quickly by using a thing I had learned from the twins. I tackled Toothless with all my body, just to stop like I just bumped into a wall. "Oh come on! That's no fair!" I yelled, still leaning to his massive body with mine, trying to push him down. I knew I could never make him fall but I was too absorbed in the game to care.

Toothless perked up his ears as he studied me with his eyes until he seemed to realize what I was doing and suddenly he fell to the ground, surprising me and sending me flying on top of him. I started laughing and rubbing his belly as it was the only natural thing I could do in that position. I just couldn't stop laughing. The feeling inside me was too fuzzy to do that. I soon moved from rubbing into scratching and just then I realized I was finally winning.

Toothless has always been fond of scratching. Especially under his chin like all the dragons but apparently the same rule also applied to the slightly softer scales on his belly as well. I felt like he was melting at my touch, trembling from my touch as I scratched him over and over again.

I was enjoying the moment all the way. Ever since I found Toothless he has been able to read me like an open book, always making me happy when needed, comforting me when I was sad and being there for me no matter what. He has done this and a lot more without saying a single word. Many humans have tried to talk to me when I was feeling low but only the silent gestures of Toothless were enough to fully make me happy.

I closed my eyes as I laid down on Toothless' warm chest and I suddenly felt myself awfully tired. Tired from the nightmares and the game we just played and also tired of worrying. But this time there was no fear. Toothless was right here to protect me.

And before I could notice, I found myself drifting to sleep on his chest.

...

The dream began like it always did

I was sitting on a small patch of grass just outside Berk. A tall and beautiful female figure sitting next to me and smiling. She shared some features with me. Maybe it was the eyes, maybe it was the way her nose curved. I don't know. I could only tell that this woman was someone to be trusted and loved by every cell in my body.

I looked down on the ground and saw a light blue dragon figure in my stubby arms, staring at me with peaceful, immobile eyes. Just looking at the figure brought me joy and made me hug it tightly as the woman did the same to me, whispering something in my ear that I couldn't quite catch as if I hadn't understood the words. It was more like a soft hum and a growl than words.

I turned my head towards the woman, smiling at her as our eyes met in a joyful moment.

But that moment didn't last for long as suddenly everything around us went dark and I could hear people screaming in the distance. The woman looked worried and released me from her embrace, making me sit down on the grass with the toy. She looked around her and gestured me to hold still.

Then she vanished

Poof, she was gone, just like that.

I waited for a while but the while soon grew to a time that seemed more like hours. It was like all the joy had been sucked out of me as I stared my toy blankly, wishing the woman would come back. I started crying but the voice wasn't mine. It was younger, much more innocent. It was like a baby would have been crying.

Terror filled my mind as I slowly started to realize the woman might not come back. Was she gone? What had happened?

I could only sit quietly in the darkness, hugging my toy dragon tightly, seeking even for a tiniest bit of security. I was vulnerable. There was nothing I could do. The protection I once got from the woman had disappeared and I was left alone in the darkness, crying.

I clutched the doll even tighter, closing my eyes.

Then something against my chest started moving. I was startled and dropped my only belonging on the ground. The toy was twitching as it grew bigger and bigger, slowly taking the form of a terrifying dragon that breathed out flames multiple times my own body length. I tried to run, I tried to scream. Nothing worked.

The only thing I could do was to cry and accept my fate as the dragon pressed its large claws on me, the middle one right on my chest, pushing through my flesh and in my heart.

"No"

I heard a strange, deep voice all around me and the dragon. Instantly after hearing the voice the toy-dragon disappeared and the darkness was replaced by pure whiteness.

I could then see a familiar black, green-eyed dragon in a distance.

The dragon nodded to me and my mind was instantly eased and I felt relaxed.

Nothing bad was going to happen, I had finally found peace.

Thank you, Toothless

My First one-shot

This was actually meant to be a Hiccstrid story but when I started writing it I suddenly realized that could never work out. At that point the story was already going in the direction you just read so I decided to make it something a little different. The original title would have been: Shh... Hiccup (Imagine Astrid whispering it)

R&R deeply appreciated

-Dawnbreaker

Also, if you liked this one-shot, you might want to check out my other story: Nightmares and Dragons
That story is only in the beginning so you'll get the hang of it pretty quickly. (Just realized I'm writing a lot about nightmares... oh well, that will change in the future, promised! Unless you really like it ofc :P)