~Ouroboros~

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1st Cycle ~ Part II: Promissio

I remember hearing a story once that stated that if you threw a frog into boiling water, it would jump out – but if you placed it into cold water and then slowly heated it up it would stay there until it died, never noticing the temperature changing around it? I do not know the validity of this story, and really it does not matter for the underlying premise of it is in fact true:

On our path through life we do not even notice that with every passing day the world around us imperceptibly changes – and if you think about it, that is the scariest truth of them all; because one thing leads to another, one day ends and another begins… By the time you realize it, it's too late – the world around you has changed so much that you do not even realize it. You are a stranger in a strange land, a citizen of a world that no longer exists…

… or perhaps it is you who has changed; have you thought of that?

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1st – 18. Cripple and Weakling

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Hiccup shivered as he stood still at the edge of the dried up riverbed opening up into the cove. From his position it was all too easy to spot the curled up Nightfury down below that seemed to be sleeping on the same circle of ash he had seen it burn out the day before. As he had promised himself, he had returned with another half full basket of fish, but now that he was here, his mind was once again assailed by doubt. Everything that he could remember happening during his meeting with the dragon yesterday – from the moment he entered the cove all the way to the strange and yet unforgettable feeling of inexplicable wonder when the Nightfury moved forward to touch his hand with its snout – all of it just seemed too surrealistic to be true, almost as if he had dreamed it all up. Heck, even his return back to the village didn't dampen the perfection of that experience – especially considering that Gobber easily accepted his hastily thought up excuse of needing some time alone as a reason for leaving Gobber by himself to work the forge. Not that it was all that unbelievable – it wasn't as if it hadn't happened before after all.

Perhaps it was the way everything seemed to go… right for him throughout the entire day that made Hiccup question if it really happened. Well, that and the one hundred forty six ways he could have gruesomely died that his all too inquisitive mind came up with when he went over the meeting in his mind – the same one hundred and forty six ways that at the moment were flashing before his eyes as he contemplated placing his head in the proverbial (or not so proverbial as the case may be) dragon's mouth and hoping that everything would work out fine.

Oh come on! It isn't as if this is the first time I have done this!

Turning to the side he moved his foot in the direction of the hanging tree roots that would bring him down to the cove below – or at least attempted to move it since it did not listen, preferring to remain right where it was. With a sigh Hiccup turned back to look at the Nightfury which was still blissfully asleep and completely unaware of the battle going on in his mind.

With mounting frustration he unhooked the basket from his shoulders and lowered it to the ground before sitting down to lean against it and removing his journal. Opening up to the first available empty page he started sketching out the cove – his first drawing of this part of the forest; and by the distinctly different look of the first few lines he had already put down, quite different from the other sketches before it. He really hoped that by the time he was done with this drawing all of his frustration and fear would flow into the sketch and leave him capable of going down into the cove below.

Really – it wasn't as if he was afraid of the Nightfury… well, not that afraid. It wasn't as if it was his fault that due to the abysmal behaviour of everyone in dragon training (with the possible exception of Astrid) Gobber had decided upon a slight deviation to his training plans. As such instead of a standard relaxing deathmatch against a dragon with Hiccup's almost obligatory attempt at committing assisted suicide in the ring, they were treated to a four hour lecture at the hands of Gobber.

Hiccup could remember almost word for word the veteran Viking going into vivid detail as to the natural weapons wielded by the different dragon types – typically followed by exceptionally graphical descriptions of what they could do to an unfortunate Viking that finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. He hadn't thought it possible to beat the nauseating effect of the dragon manual's blood and gore filled descriptions, but somehow Gobber managed it.

Hiccup had to hand it to his one armed mentor – if everyone came out of it the same way he did, and considering that even Snotlout's face seemed a curious mix of green and white by the end, Hiccup was quite sure on that point; it was highly likely and bordering on certainty that the next dragon they were forced to fight against would find six screaming youngsters attempting to scale the stone walls and squeeze their way through the metal fencing to get the Hel away from it.

It was quite lucky for him that the Nightfury below did not have any spikes and other clearly deadly extremities – a sharp contrast to just about every other species of dragons; otherwise it would have been treated to a dress rehearsal of Hiccup's expected actions in the next training session.

The almost... cute way the dragon was curled up down below that strangely enough seemed to almost scream 'Harmless!' – At least to him – may have helped Hiccup keep the last tatters of composure as well.

That didn't mean he was approaching any closer though – Gobber's explanations about what even the most harmless looking dragon could do were enough to guarantee nightmares for at least the next week.

'… and then there are the terrible terrors. If ye have ever seen or heard about how wolf packs can take down a group of even the strongest Vikings, then imagine the same thing just replace the wolves with a veritable horde of Terrors, crawling over each other to get to you, their gashing teeth coated with the blood and loose flesh of those that came before ya. Even as you swing your axe at the first ones you can feel the near tangible gazes of the rest as they zero in on their next prey, and you know that no matter how many ya manage to bring down there will always be hundreds more to replace them within seconds. Quite fortunate don't you think that few enough terror packs join in on the raids eh?

'Why, the last one was a few years back and I can still remember seeing the remains of those unfortunate enough to have been in their way – it wasn't so much of corpses on the floor… no, it was more like the entire road was littered with fleshy remains – whether human or dragon, who could really tell. Just imagine it – the air thick with the nauseating smell of burnt flesh and blood, and tattered remains everywhere; as if someone took an axe to them and kept chopping until-'

Hiccup shuddered as he forcefully suppressed that particular memory before it continued on to the more graphical of Gobber's depictions, and attempted to file it all away into the 'sealed for sanity's sake' territory of his mind – the same area of his mind that somehow managed to triple in size after Gobber's lecture.

This time when he turned his mind towards the half-finished sketch in his journal and the last few heavy jagged lines he sketched out which added an almost foreboding look to an otherwise peaceful depiction of the cove, it was in the fervent hopes of focusing his thoughts on anything but the fuel of his future nightmares.

Hours stretched as Hiccup continued drawing sketch after sketch, having after a while completely suppressed his recent memories and forgotten the reason he came here in the first place. As it was, he was just beginning his fifth sketch this day when a single warble coming from below broke his concentration and slamming him forcefully back to reality.

Supressing the scream of surprise bubbling up in his throat Hiccup franticly zeroed in on whatever made that sound, causing him to lock eyes with the quite obviously awake Nightfury below that stared back up at him with its head tilted slightly to the side. Even as he tried to slow down his heart before it burst out of his chest while simultaneously supressing his desire to just run, a small but growing part of him wondered just why the dragon looked so… puzzled.

Puzzled and perhaps just a bit happy.

Not really expecting a reply Hiccup nodded slowly towards the dragon and was quite surprised to find it repeating the gesture back – surprised and reassured, for it had caused his mostly irrational fears to ebb as he remembered that although Gobber was unnervingly correct about the multitudes of ways it could kill him if it wanted to (having almost been a victim of several such ways already), it was really much the same way humans were.

After all, if there was one thing I learned from our meetings, it's that the dragon is intelligent… meaning that I am quite safe as long as I don't anger it.

In a way the Nightfury below was much the same as Gobber – deadly towards anyone that threatens it, and yet mostly quite safe to those that it considers as its acquaintances, family or friends. Hiccup knew better than to underestimate the old veteran; even with half of his limbs gone Gobber was deadly during dragon raids, netting at least three dragons by himself and saving the lives of many a young Viking. Hiccup knew that he would run without looking back if he was told that Gobber was out for his blood, but that happened his mentor was quite safe to be around; much like the dragon below.

With a wince he realized the other unintentional similarity between them – both were crippled by a member of the other species; Gobber having lost his arm and leg to dragons while the Nightfury had its tailfin sheared off by him. Gobber was lucky enough to be able to replace his lost limbs no matter how inadequate they were to the real things, but there really wasn't anything to serve as a replacement fin for the Nightfury.

After all, in the case of the Nightfury an inadequate replacement fin was just about as useful as tying a rock to its tail.

As he pocketed his journal and hefted the basket of fish back onto his shoulders before making his way down, Hiccup wondered if he could do something about that – if there was one thing he was good at, it was designing and constructing devices that Gobber had once affectionately called harbingers of death and refused to comment as to who they were supposed to deliver said death to. As it was, design plans were already swimming through his head based on what little he had seen of the other fin on the Nightfury's tail the day before.

Really though, he was likely the only person that could possibly make a replacement fin for the Nightfury – not only because even Gobber would have a nigh impossible time of deciding how to go about it, but also because anyone else available on this island would likely just rush at the dragon with a loud war cry and an axe held high the moment he or she saw it.

So really, by both skill and disposition he was the only one that could do this.

Wait…

Hiccup actually froze in place in the middle of climbing down the roots to the bottom of the cove when he realized that he had actually made the decision to try and allow the Nightfury to fly again. He didn't know what was more disturbing about that – that he was planning on giving flight back to the dragon currently in the lead on the amount of damage it caused to the village… or that his decision was not fueled only by regret as to the consequences of his actions but also a growing sense of kinship he could feel with the Nightfury.

Shouldn't be surprised at that though, my growing worry about it getting enough to eat should have clued me in on that…

Restarting his climb down Hiccup put the thoughts of an artificial fin for the Nightfury away – while it was something he was planning on making, he highly doubted the Nightfury would allow him to approach its damaged tail to take even take the measurements for the replacement, not to mention actually attaching whatever he made to the tail.

He would need a lot more trust between them before he could even begin attempting something like that.

Not for the first time he wondered if the Nightfury knew that he was the one who shot it down before shaking his head. Of course not – I would have been dead the moment I released it if it knew that little tidbit of information.

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Walking between the two boulders blocking the place where the roots dipped down from the rest of the cove was much easier now than the first time – mainly because he was quite sure that there wasn't swift and quite painful death lying in wait for him on the other side.

Well, the Nightfury was in fact lying in wait for him on the other side on the same spot he had seen it from above, but it wasn't quite the 'swift and painful' death he had thought it was before.

Throughout his entire approach towards it the Nightfury did not break its gaze from him, but neither did it do anything else – if anything it looked like it was content to just lie there until the end of time if that was how long it took Hiccup to cross the distance. It was only when he stopped in front of it and once more nodded towards it that it moved, responding once more with a single bow of its head of its own. A fleeing thought passed through his head as he wondered if the Nightfury was just mimicking his actions or if it actually understood what the gesture meant.

"Hi – beautiful afternoon isn't it? I just, you know… came here thinking we could spend some time together again" Hiccup said before hastily adding "if you don't mind of course."

Receiving a warble in reply that he took as a 'yes' from the happiness he could see in the Nightfury's eyes, Hiccup finally felt himself relax as muscles that he didn't even know were tense loosened.

"I brought some fish too in case you are hungry." He continued after heaving the basket off his shoulders and setting it down. Untying and removing the lid Hiccup stepped back and watched as the Nightfury stood up, performed a few stretches that looked distinctly feline to him and proceeded to make its way over.

Having missed it the last time, Hiccup watched in interest as the Nightfury carefully used its paw to roll the basket onto its side, spilling most of the fish onto the grass before it proceeded to chomp down on them, swallowing most in one or two bites.

The Nightfury, the Nightfury… I really should find something to call you – something like Midnight would work probably, or perhaps Shadow…

Making himself comfortable on the grass Hiccup continued to watch as the Nightfury demolished the pile of fish he brought it and mused some more on a good name – something that would show just how regal it was, or possibly complement its natural grace.

"You know… I've been thinking – I can't keep calling you Nightfury or 'dragon' all the time. Now I know you probably have a name for yourself – actually, do dragons use names? … No, never mind, it doesn't quite matter – since we can't talk to each other, do you mind if I give you a name I can call you by?"

Somehow, he was quite sure that the Nightfury understood him, as instead of grabbing another fish after gulping down the latest salmon, it instead turned towards him and tilting its head slightly to the side let off another croon through its half opened mouth. If it wasn't for the curiosity that he could feel from it, he may have been intimidated by the smudges of blood on the razor sharp teeth that he could see inside. Or perhaps not, as he was all too caught up in thinking of a good name to bother considering how perilous any 'normal' Viking would see the situation.

"So while you have been eating I juggled a few names around and if you like one of them just let off a warble or something as a sign and I'll use that."

Taking silence as agreement Hiccup proceeded onwards "So how do you like…"

Hiccup drifted off towards the end as he saw the Nightfury notice its partially opened mouth and retracting its teeth proceed to clean its snout with its slightly forked tongue.

"… Toothless…"

The word came unbidden to his mouth, and he instantly realized that it was the wrong thing to say as the Nightfury's eyes narrowed at him and a low growl started up from deep within its chest. "No no no – I wasn't suggesting that as a name! I saw how you retracted your teeth and the word just slipped out! I've seen you do it before but I was still surprised considering that other dragons don't do that." He paused there as doubt seeped into his mind – "Umm – do they?"

The Nightfury's harsh gaze looked at him and Hiccup was reminded of Gobber's glare after that unfortunate accident with one of his inventions that nearly took his mentor's other hand or head off. In both cases it felt like the one issuing the glare was seriously contemplating death or mutilation; unnerving to say the least. Hiccup's next few heartbeats seemed to last forever before he could breathe a sigh of relief when the growl faded away and the Nightfury's eyes softened once more, although there seemed to be quite a bit of sadness and melancholy in them now.

Taking the soft croon it released as permission to continue Hiccup took a few steadying breaths and continued. "Right… Anyway, so what do you think of Midnight?"

The Nightfury released a single low growl before opening its mouth – thankfully with its teeth still retracted; closing it a moment later.

"That would be a no right? Then… how about Shadow? Shade? Blackwings would also suit you I think…" The only reply back was a repeat performance of the Nightfury's response to his first suggestion, along with a growing sense of frustration emanating from the dragon.

"Then what about-"

A single roar, much louder than the previous growls pierced the air, startling Hiccup and causing him to stumble backwards. This time the Nightfury seemed almost furious when it opened its maw and proceeded to extend and retract its teeth several times before piercing him with a glare.

It took a moment for Hiccup to piece together what it wanted and push away the annoying flashes of his life from before his eyes that did nothing but mess with his concentration. "… Don't take this the wrong way – but do you want to be called Toothless?" he asked hesitantly.

All the anger seemed to flee from Toothless to be replaced with sadness as he gave a single soft croon of agreement which seemed to contain within it almost tangible sadness. Breaking off his gaze with Hiccup, he turned around and walked back to the remains of the fish.

Well that was certainly weird… Hiccup thought as he watched Toothless completely ignore the human in the cove and instead proceed with gobbling down another fish, though with visibly less fervor than before. Wonder why he decided on such a name for himself – it's not even a proper name, really.

Naming the Nightfury 'toothess' just did not seem right somehow – it made the dragon seem harmless; something that the Nightfury definitely wasn't. It made it sound like the Nightfury literally did not have any teeth – as if it was weak…

Weak or… crippled. He thought with a wince.

Now that he stumbled across that thought, he couldn't let it go. It made perfect sense though, in a twisted kind of way – Toothless picked that name for himself to remind himself of his inability to fly, to remind himself of his own weakness. Now that he understood that, Hiccup saw the name the same way – as something that would remind him of the consequences of his own actions.

He had half a mind made up to walk over to Toothless and tell him to pick a different name before another thought struck him. In a way, naming a dragon Toothless was much the same as naming a Viking Hiccup wasn't it? Neither name spoke much good about the one assigned it.

Hiccup snorted darkly to himself – Toothless and Hiccup – a crippled dragon and a weak human; what a pair they made.

The names really seemed to fit them somehow…

So be it then – if you want to be called Toothless, then who am I to deny you that?

Time passed quickly after that – or perhaps it would be better to say that they felt too awkward with each other to just sit around. Toothless finished off the fish and carried the empty basket over to Hiccup before walking off to coil back up to sleep, trying hard to ignore the human presence in his cove.

Perhaps tomorrow would go better… Hiccup thought as he threw the empty basket over his shoulder and walked off towards the village. If there was any doubt about his plans to allow Toothless to fly again, they were completely gone by now. He would give back what he had so selfishly stole from the dragon, and once he accomplished that he would bury the name 'Toothless' and grant the Nightfury a name worthy of him. Perhaps 'Shade' or 'Nightwing' would work – after all no one but him has ever seen the Nightfury when it flew through the dark skies above Berk.

And perhaps if he accomplished that, after Toothless was once more free to fly through the air like he was born to; perhaps Hiccup himself could discard his own name as well – after all, what kind of name was Hiccup?

Almost as bad as Toothless it was.

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The next few days Hiccup spent going to dragon training in the mornings and going over to the cove every afternoon, stopping only briefly in between to grab a bite to eat and partially fill yet another basket with fish. Although it pained him to say so, no one other than Gobber had even noticed his daily escapades into the forest (and more specifically, a certain dragon's cove) – and even Gobber did not say anything about them other than a single 'be careful out there' when he left today. In a way it was for the best – it would after all be difficult to explain why he carried off a basket of fish into the woods every day; and yet it saddened him that no one really cared enough to notice him missing.

Still, he wondered how many more times he would be able to take such large quantities of fish from the store houses before someone noticed their loss; or worse still, caught him actually taking them. Even though he cut down on the amount of fish he brought Toothless, it was still roughly the amount that Gobber ate in a couple of weeks – and Hiccup needed that much each and every day…

It was really only a matter of time until someone clued in and things got more difficult, but for now Hiccup found himself enjoying the simple schedule he got going.

After that awkward day when Toothless decided upon his name, Hiccup found himself spending more and more time together, his visits having gained an almost ritualistic quality to them. Every visit went the same way, he would arrive at the entranceway to the cove with his basket of fish, holler off a greeting towards Toothless who would return it with a garble of his own, and then proceed to climb down the roots to the floor of the cove.

Once there he would 'offer' the fish to the dragon who Hiccup had quickly found out had very clear definitions as to whose food was whose; as in he wouldn't touch the fish unless Hiccup made it clear that it was for him. Afterwards he would watch Toothless eat his dinner, soon followed by Hiccup taking a seat against one of the larger rocks in the cove to settle down and start drawing it from yet another position while Toothless would do whatever he felt like. Hiccup's journal was rapidly filling up with pictures of the Nightfury just about everywhere in the cove – coiled up in the grass, crouching down on one of the boulders, washing himself in the lake…

Today though, he was going to try something different – something that was completely necessary for any plans involving the artificial fin to take off the ground (both figuratively and literally), and yet something that he was afraid to do since he had no idea what the dragon's reaction would be.

"Hey Toothless…" Hiccup trailed off and paused until he heard a croon from the dragon that had today decided to perch on top of the same boulder Hiccup was leaning against. "Don't bite my head off for asking, but could I see your tail?"

He could feel shock from Toothless, soon followed by general unease which he took to mean that his request has been denied. That was yet another thing he discovered – apparently dragons communicated with emotions or something like that, for whenever he was close to Toothless he could literally feel certain emotions like anger, happiness, unease, and puzzlement amongst many others that he knew did not come from him.

It actually took him longer than he would have thought it would to realize that those emotions came from the dragon, or perhaps faster than he should have expected. It was after all impossible at first for him to know whether an emotion was coming from his own mind or from Toothless', and it wasn't until he started wondering just why he was feeling hunger and anticipation whenever he came into the cove that he got an inkling of what was going on. After that though it got easier, with him aware of what was going on Hiccup was able to feel the difference between them and know who the perpetrator of each particular emotion was.

In a way, it provided them with a rudimentary method of communication where Toothless seemed to understand everything he told him, while Hiccup was left to rely on the Nightfury's body language and emotional state to figure out what he wanted to say. Not the best way of communicating; certainly not enough for them to hold a conversation with… and yet it did not take Hiccup long to get used to it.

Not that they talked much in either case, both preferring to just stay close to each other and take comfort from having someone else around them. For Hiccup it was the first time in his life after his mother's death that he had someone he could just be with like that. No annoyance, no expectations… Just unconditional acceptance. If he had to compare it to something he had experienced, Hiccup would probably think of the time Val would pick him up and cradle him, neither saying anything as they sat and watched the sunset.

That time was long gone now, and even the memory of it was obscure at best. Still, at least he managed to find someone else he could sit around with like that – even if that someone was a fire breathing demonic creature, at least according to Viking lore.

The shadow of the Nightfury moved off from him, and Hiccup did not need to turn around to know that Toothless had climbed down from the boulder as seconds later the dragon's lithe form came around from the side and lay down in front of him. For a moment Hiccup fidgeted as the dragon's piercing glare seemed to bore twin holes in his head, but then the gaze softened slightly and with a single soft warble Toothless moved his tail around to lie in between them.

Hiccup's eyes flickered between Toothless and his tail, noting the dragon's eyes carefully watching his every move. He supposed it made sense; Toothless had already lost one tailfin and was definitely not in a hurry to lose the other one, even though it wasn't of much use by itself. Hesitantly reaching out with his hand he pulled back immediately when he felt Toothless' unease, though the way his earflaps began to drop down to his neck and a soft growl started up did get Hiccup to withdraw slightly faster than he would have otherwise.

"Ok ok – Can you just open up the tailfin so I can sketch it then?" Hiccup said, and Toothless obliged by fanning out the single fin left on his tail and turning it slightly to allow Hiccup to see it better.

"Thanks-" Hiccup murmured absentmindedly, his mind already deep into the process of taking in the scene in front of him and his hands busy with nigh a conscious thought directing them. Before he even noticed it, he had already flipped to a new page of his journal and started putting down the first lines of his sketch – just a general outline for now, although he was planning on eyeballing the measurements later on as well. He could only hope that Toothless would allow him to get closer to the tail sometime in the future to get a more precise drawing done – somehow he doubted that an artificial fin that was only roughly the correct size would be enough.

Throughout the entire time he was sketching the tail, Toothless' eyes never strayed from him; although Hiccup could feel the dragon's sense of unease at allowing anyone close to his tail be replaced with slight curiosity – likely wondering just why Hiccup was doing this. One of the first things that Hiccup found out about Toothless was that he was quite fascinated by Hiccup's sketches, and probably did not understand just why Hiccup would want a sketch of his crippled tail.

Even so, Toothless allowed Hiccup to continue, and Hiccup was glad for that. It would after all make his self-prescribed job that much easier. Perhaps if he made a rough model and brought it around, Toothless would be more willing to allow him to come closer to the tail.

By the time the sun started setting below the treeline, Hiccup had several completed drawings that he could work off of, though without actually handling the tailfin (something he knew Toothless would not allow him to do) he would have to take several guesses as to the materials he could use, along with most of the measurements. The ribs of the fin will have to be made from metal – wooden rods would break too easily considering how thin they would have to be; the fin membrane on the other hand would have to be some type of leather… He just hoped that the inconsistencies in weight and construction as compared to the real thing would be within a range that Toothless could work around and get used to.

"Well, I'm done with the sketches. Thanks for trusting me on this Toothless." He said, receiving only a warble in response as the Nightfury flicked its tail back with a feeling of relief that washed over Hiccup. Stretching backwards to get rid of some kinks in his back that had settled in while he was busy sketching Hiccup took note of the low position of the sun along with the stretching shadows that were almost at the point that they swallowed the entire floor of the cove whole. It was way past time for him to get back to the village – for while he was sure that no one would go off looking for him if he didn't come back before sunset, Hiccup didn't fancy making his way back in the dark.

Besides, there was work to be done. "I'll see you tomorrow alright? Have to get back to the village before the sun sets."

Another croon, along with a feeling of sadness was Toothless' response.

"Well I have to – sure they don't notice my wanderings into the forest every day, but someone would notice if I didn't come to dragon training in the morning. At least Gobber would… Besides, I promise to come earlier tomorrow so we can spend more time together."

The feeling of sadness ebbed, but some still remained along with an oddly muffled feeling of gloom. Hiccup could understand that – he felt the same way as well after all. Even with the noticeable decrease of actual dragons in dragon training there was little else he would have liked better than to be allowed to drop out. Besides how pointless the training felt to him, each moment wasted in training was one moment that he could have been spending with either Toothless or working in the forge on the artificial tailfin – now that he finally had some drawings he simply couldn't wait to get started.

As he climbed out of the cove Hiccup wondered just how messed up his life really was, considering that his closest friend was a Viking killing dragon that he had almost become the latest victim of. That of course did not say quite a lot about their state of friendship, which was closer to acquaintances at the moment; instead it spoke more of just how messed up his life in the village was.

No wonder really that I befriended the first being that did not consider me a burden… or a disaster waiting to happen.

He still couldn't decide if shooting down a Nightfury was a blessing or a curse, but there was one thing he knew for certain – whether for better or for worse, his life was never going to return to the way it was before.

Not that he would want it to in any case – for the first time in three years Hiccup felt alive once more.

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A/N

I am back! What with my work on several research papers I doubt I will have as much time to work on this story as I wanted, so I will have to post a chapter per week, and if I miss a week… well… just know that I am quite busy with the annoyances of 'real life'.

In some ways I was hesitant at just making them jump into friendship like that (single 'fated' meeting followed by more or less acceptance), but the way I see it, Toothless has always wanted someone to share his journey with (having left his parents and never met anyone else before) and is barely an adult yet (though his body is that of an adult, his mind has been 'lagged' due to the darkness takeover). Hiccup on the other hand realistically just wants someone who can accept him, and like a child creating an imaginary friend or befriending a cat, feels drawn to the only being that seems to notice him – the Nightfury. Note that Gobber is slightly too old to really be considered a friend. Hope that makes sense, and really hope I made that clear in the actual story (I really do not want to rely on author's notes to tell the story…)

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, and especially MidKnightz who had actually attempted to translate the 'draconic' number system into our normal base 10 number system. Brought a tear to my eye (in a good way) that review did.

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That's enough from me for now,

Saienai