I heard Toothless. He was snorting at me. I opened my eyes. He was sniffing me and nudging me to get me up.
"Hey, Toothless," I mumbled sleepily. He continued to push me to the side of the bed, licking my face. "I'm happy to see you, too, Bud." He stepped on my stomach.
I sat up, groaning. I looked around at my surroundings. "Uhh… ah… I'm in my house." I looked over at Toothless. "You're in my house." He started jumping around, knocking things over.
"Does my dad know you're here?" Toothless came over to me again, urging me to get up. "Uh, what? Oh, okay. Okay."
He started to jump up onto the beams. "Toothl– no, no, Toothless. Toothless!" I was sitting up by now, starting to twist off the bed. "Aw, come on."
I stopped short. Something felt different.
I lifted the blanket off my legs. I was dismayed at what I saw.
Toothless jumped down from the beams, looking at me wide eyed.
I sat there with wide eyes myself. This was going to take some getting used to.
I slumped my shoulders, sighing softly. I may not have liked it, but it was real and would never change.
I lowered my right foot to the floor. Then, slowly, I lowered my left leg. Except it didn't end in a foot.
It ended in a metal prosthetic.
Toothless sniffed it, then looked up at me. I looked into his eyes, trying to find strength.
I took a deep breath, and used the post of my bed to stand up. I leaned heavily on my right leg.
I reached forward with my left leg, limping a step. I quickly caught myself on my right leg again.
I tried to take another step. I lost my balance. I grunted as I fell, but Toothless caught me. He pushed me back up and let me wrap my arm around his neck.
"Thanks, Bud," I said, hopping and limping toward the door with his help.
I let go of him and grabbed the heavy door. Stumbling backwards, I pulled it open. A Monstrous Nightmare was directly outside, roaring at me.
Crying out, I slammed the door, leaning against it.
"Toothless, stay here," I said, going again to open the door. I saw Snotlout on his Monstrous Nightmare, shouting to the other teens.
Who were flying.
On their dragons.
In the middle of the village.
I stepped outside carefully, able to balance a little better now. "Wow," I breathed, looking at the scene that greeted me. There were dragons everywhere, peacefully flying around and coexisting with people.
"I knew it. I'm dead," I said in disbelief.
My dad laughed as he came up behind me. "No, but you gave it your best shot." He guided me down the steps. "So, what do you think?" He gestured toward the village.
"Hey, look, it's Hiccup!" someone shouted. People cheered as they ran toward me, forming a small crowd.
"Turns out, all we needed was a little more of… this," my dad said, motioning toward me.
"You just gestured to all of me."
Nodding, he smiled slightly.
"Well, most of you," Gobber came through the people. He pointed at the complex prosthetic, which was formed to have a sort of hook on the bottom. "That bit's my handiwork, with a little Hiccup flair thrown in. Think it'll do?"
I held my foot at, glancing down. "I might make a few tweaks," I said, shrugging. The vikings around me laughed.
Astrid came up behind me, punching me. I let out a grunt as I stumbled forward. "That's for scaring me."
"Wait, what? What, is it always gonna be this way?"
She grabbed my shirt to pull me closer as she kissed me sweetly on the lips. I barely noticed some ohh's and ahh's from the people around.
"I could get used to it," I admitted as she smiled at me.
Gobber came up just then, handing me a new prosthetic tail for Toothless. "Welcome home," he said.
"Night Fury! Get down!" someone shouted. Toothless came bounding over people, playfully knocking them down. Astrid laughed as she saw my enthralled expression.
I saddled Toothless up, sliding my prosthetic foot into the newly designed stirrup. I opened up his new, brightly colored tail fin, glancing over at Astrid on Stormfly.
"You ready?" I asked Toothless. He shook, eager for a race.
I surveyed my village before taking off, swooping through the sky with Astrid. And I realized that Berk had changed.
Because, I realized, this… is Berk.
It snows nine months of the year, and hails the other three.
Any food that grows here is tough and tasteless.
The people that grow here are even more so.
The only upsides are the pets.
While other places have ponies or parrots, we have…
Dragons!
Astrid and I spun and raced across Berk. Near a large bridge, I went straight up into the sky, Toothless's tongue stuck out to the side in his excitement. Trying to push Toothless just a little higher, I leaned forward in the saddle. My metal foot slipped out of the stirrup, and I slid backwards, falling off Toothless. Falling, falling, falling…
Something was on me. It felt like a blanket.