Part 1 ~ Chapter 3

Later that night I rushed to the Great Hall with Kala in my arms. She whined and hid her face in my chest to keep the rain from hitting her face and I smiled softly and kissed the top of her head before I pushed one of the Great Hall doors open with my shoulder. I struggled because of how heavy it was, but I managed and sighed in relief when we were out of the rain.

As we got into the hall, I saw Gobber talking with the others at a table further in. He was pacing around the table as he spoke.

"Alright. Where did Astrid go wrong in the ring today?" He asked.

I slowly began to make my way to the table as I dried Kala off with my tunic, trying to listen to the conversation as I walked.

"I mistimed my somersault dive. It was sloppy. It threw off my reverse tumble." My best friend berated herself, crossing her arms as she did.

I smiled and shook my head. 'Of course she would be upset about a small mess up like that. That's Astrid for ya.'

"Yeah, we noticed." Ruffnut said sarcastically.

"No, no, you were great. That was so 'Astrid'." My cousin Snotlout said, trying to flirt with Astrid yet again, which earned a glare from her.

I rolled my eyes as Kala chose to take my head as her perch once she was dry enough. 'He just won't give up on trying to win her over will he?' I thought as I became very cautious of how I was walking to keep my daughter from falling off my head.

"She's right, you have to be tough on yourselves." Gobber said, then he noticed me once I was close enough to the table and gestured to me. "Where did Hiccup go wrong?"

'Oh come on Gobber! Really?! I didn't even wanna do this!' I thought as I caught Kala as she fell from my head with a surprised squeak from her losing balance.

"Uh, he showed up?" Ruffnut asked.

"He didn't get eaten." Tuffnut said with disappointment clear in his tone.

"He's never where he should be." Snotlout said with a glare directed towards me.

I looked away as I held Kala close, but gained a small smile when I heard my cousin yelp in pain from Astrid hitting him.

I sat next to Astrid and gave her a thankful smile for saving me a spot and some food. She returned it with her own as I began to eat as Kala situated herself in my lap.

"Thank you, Snotlout." Gobber said with a roll of the eyes. He then dropped a book on the table, which made Kala jump and yip in annoyance at the startle from how loud the book was when it hit the table. "You need to live and breathe this stuff. The Dragon Manual. Everything we know about every dragon we know of."

'Not everything we know.' I thought as I gave Kala a bit of raw fish that Astrid brought for her. She ate it hungrily and chirped happily, which made me smile.

We all looked at the doors as thunder roared outside. Kala jumped and cowered close to my chest from the noise and I smiled softly and held her close as I rubbed her back soothingly.

"You're alright..it's just a bit of thunder little one.." I whispered.

"No attacks tonight." Gobber said, then he tapped the Dragon Manual. "Study up."

And with that, the blacksmith began to make his way out of the Great Hall.

"Wait, you mean, read?" Tuffnut asked as Gobber walked away from the table.

"While we're still alive?" Ruffnut added to her twin's question as she lifted the book by the corner in disgust before she dropped it back onto the table with a shudder.

"Why read words when you can just kill the stuff the words tell you about?" Snotlout said as he glanced at my daughter.

I glared at him and held Kala closer to my chest protectively. "Don't you dare."

"What? It's a dragon Hiccup. I'm just saying." He said with crossed arms.

"Leave her be Snotlout. She's done nothing to us." Astrid defended, which I was grateful for.

"Yet."

"She's not going to harm us." I growled out.

I saw that Fishlegs grew worried and began to talk. "How about we just read the manual? I've read it like, seven times. There's this water dragon that sprays boiling water at your face. And–And there's this other one that buries itself for like a week–" He began to rant, but was cut off by Tuffnut.

"Yeah, that sounds great. See, there was a chance I was going to read that…"

"...But, now…" Ruffnut added.

"You guys read, I'll go kill stuff." Snotlout said as he got up and left the table.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut followed his lead, which got Fishlegs to follow suit as well.

"Oh, and there's this other one that has these spines that look like trees…" Fishlegs started to ramble again as they all left.

I looked at Astrid once they were all gone. "So I guess we'll share?"

"Yep." She said as she cleared our area of the table and pulled the manual over to us, opening the book as Kala came out of hiding and sat in my lap as she looked at the book curiously.

I smiled and wrapped my arms around her to prevent her from falling as I looked at the first page.

"Dragon classifications. Strike Class, Fear Class, Mystery Class." I read aloud, but I raised a brow in confusion. "Why are there so few?"

"Probably because we only ever deal with certain types?" Astrid guessed as she flipped the page, then began reading off it. "Thunderdrum: This reclusive dragon inhabits sea caves and dark tide pools. When startled, the Thunderdrum produces a concussive sound that can kill a man at close range. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight."

Kala whined as she looked at the drawings, her earplates folding back against her small head. I smiled softly and kissed her head.

"Don't worry little one. I'll make sure a Thunderdrum never hurts you, I promise."

Astrid smiled and flipped the page, gesturing for me to read the next one. I nodded in understanding and looked at the page.

"Timberjack: This gigantic creature has razor sharp wings that can slice through full grown trees. Extremely dangerous, kill on sight. Gods. Note to self. Never run into a Timberjack."

Astrid stifled a laugh as she flipped the page again then began reading. "Scauldron: Sprays scalding water at its victims. Extremely dangerous."

She flipped the page and I read the contents. "Changewing: Even newly hatched dragons can spray acid. Kill on sight."

Astrid then began to flip through the book faster and we both read off what we could. "Gronckle, Zippleback, The Skrill, Boneknapper, Whispering Death. Burns its victims, buries its victims, chokes its victims, turns its victims inside-out. Extremely dangerous, extremely dangerous, kill on sight, kill on sight, kill on sight…"

Kala whined as we read and hid her face in my chest. I subconsciously rubbed her back to comfort her as I kept my eyes on the pages. Astrid then stopped flipping through when we came across a mostly blank page and I read it.

"Night Fury: Speed, unknown. Size, unknown. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage this dragon. Your only chance: Hide and pray it does not find you."

My grip on Kala tightened slightly as I read the page, a memory of yesterday morning popping up in my mind.

"How come they didn't add to this at all? They could've written down so much because of that adult Night Fury they went after." Astrid said, not understanding why there wasn't anything on the Night Furies.

"Probably because they immediately left to search for the Nest as soon as they came back from killing it.." I said as I looked down at my daughter. "But..I'm kinda glad they didn't add anything.. It's better that way.."

Astrid rested a hand on my shoulder, which got me to look up at her and see the soft smile on her lips. "Something's different about you. What happened when you and Kala were out in the forest today?"

I smiled a bit and looked back down at my daughter. "We met her brother and his caretaker. He's about seven years old and is a Night Fury like Kala, but his caretaker is a Light Fury."

"A Light Fury? What even is that?" Astrid asked, shocked.

I looked back at her when I noticed Kala was sound asleep. "It's another Fury species. They're very similar to Night Furies, but they have this cool ability where they can become invisible by flying through their own plasma blasts. The one we ran into is a female and she was super kind. I, uh..found out that I can understand dragons when we did and she helped me realize something."

"Wow..wait. You can understand dragons now? And what do you mean she helped you realize something?" Astrid asked with a raised brow.

I smiled and rubbed Kala's head absentmindedly. "So you remember how I got a nose bleed yesterday?"

Astrid nodded. "Yeah? What does that have to do with anything?"

"She explained to me why I did. Apparently, when I caught Kala yesterday morning, it kicked in this type of bond. She claimed me as her dad and..well..the nose bleed was just my body reacting to the bond kicking in. And um..it's apparently turning me into a Night Fury. Which is why I got the nose bleed in the first place." I explained nervously.

Astrid's eyes grew wide from shock. "What?!"

"Yeah, that was my reaction, too." I said with a nervous chuckle.

"H-how are you becoming a dragon?! That doesn't make sense!"

"From what Luna told me, that's the name of the Light Fury, it's basically the Night Fury species' failsafe to keep them from dying out. From what Luna could tell, Kala created a bond between us out of desperation to stay alive. She needs someone to take care of her, and I just so happen to be the person she chose. Which I'm okay with." I explained as I looked at my daughter with a kind smile.

Astrid rested her head in her hand and leaned against the table out of pure shock as she tried to wrap her head around it all. "So..you're slowly becoming a dragon..no this is fine. This is totally fine. Not like this is completely insane or anything. Not everyday your best friend tells you he's turning into a Night Fury!"

I smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of my neck. "Y-yeah..yeah I know."

"Did this Light Fury explain how much longer you have as a human or..?" Astrid asked nervously.

"Um…about a month? From what she told me, because the bond was made because of the state Kala was in, not to mention the fact that she's only a couple days old, it sped up the transformation process since she needs a grown Night Fury to take care of her. But, because of my age, I'll only be an adolescent. Which doesn't really help that much, but at least I'll be able to take care of her better."

"So..we won't be able to talk ever again..?" My best friend asked, and I saw tears forming in her blue eyes.

My eyes widened and I turned to face her fully. "What? No, of course we will Astrid. Luna told me that Night Furies have this special ability to transform into humans so they can blend in with us to stay safe from hunters. Which means I'll be able to transform like that too."

"And so will Kala when she's older.." Astrid realized with wide eyes.

I nodded with a small smile. "Exactly."

"H-how are you taking this so lightly Hiccup? Your life has literally been flipped upside down in the span of two days."

I looked away as I bit my lip. "It took a long time for me to wrap my head around it all when Luna told me if I'm being honest.."

I looked down at the baby dragon in my arms and gained a warm smile. "But, if it means I can protect Kala and take care of her better, then I don't care."

I looked up at Astrid and saw she was smiling.

"What?" I asked with a raised brow.

"Nothing. It's just..seeing the way you look at Kala makes me smile. I haven't seen you this happy since we were toddlers. The fact that this baby Night Fury makes you happy is amazing. Even if it is hard to grasp that you're becoming a dragon because of it. What are you gonna do when the transformation is complete? If your dad finds out or you slip up, you'll be killed on the spot Hiccup.."

I sighed and looked at the flame of the candle slowly burning away on the table. "I don't know..leave Berk probably.."

"And if you can't do that?"

"Fight for my life..and my daughter's life." I decided as I kissed the top of Kala's head.

Kala purred softly in her sleep and cuddled closer to my chest.

"So, she's actually your daughter, huh?" Astrid asked with a smirk. "You accepted that pretty quick."

I chuckled and looked at my best friend. "Kinda hard not to. She's just too cute. This little one's got the strongest grip on my heart and I don't mind it at all. She's only been in my life for two days and I would do anything to make sure she has a good life. That's insane of me, isn't it?"

Astrid stifled a laugh and shook her head. "Maybe, but it's your life. If this is what you want, then do it. I won't stop you. But, you're gonna have to tell your dad eventually. Especially since you only have a month before the transformation is complete. He's going to find out one way or another, Hiccup."

I sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I know. I'll figure something out. But until then, there's nothing I can do about it besides wait for the inevitable."

~~~HTRYNF~~~