From the moment they met, Toothless knew Hiccup was different from the rest of his flock. For one thing, he looked distinct. He was skinnier, had oddly colored eyes, and even his face didn't hold the same features as the rest of them. And then there were the less obvious things (to humans, at least), like his scent. He was a mere hatchling, yet he didn't smell of his dam, and only faintly of what Toothless assumed was his sire, the rest of his scent was just smoke, metal, and fire.

Fire. It was this last part that made Hiccup so different. He didn't smell like the human's wood fires, he smelled of dragon fire, the smell of sulfur and flames wafting off of him. His boy was most definitely dragon, Toothless just couldn't figure out why. Hiccup never expressed his inner flame, not in their time in the cove, it was like he was suppressing it. But nevertheless, he could create fire.

Leaving the Isle of Berk was one of the hardest yet easiest choices Hiccup had ever made. He was never accepted by Berk, nobody would miss him. Nobody except his dad and Gobber, but if they knew what he had done they probably wouldn't hesitate to ship him off. He had spared, befriended, and helped one of the most dangerous dragons alive. So as the wind roared in his ears and slapped against his he only looked back at Berk once. He saw the woods he grew up exploring, the village that had been both a home and prison, the cove where he made his first real friend, years of memories, and a life he was giving up. He was letting go of a life full of rejection and shame to explore the world with his best friend. He would miss Berk, but there was a better life out there for him and Toothless.

As the two hopped from island t o island in the archipelago, exploring the wild, Hiccup grew more and more certain about one thing. He didn't know why, and he certainly didn't know how, but he could create fire. It was so strange to him, he could shoot fire like a dragon, but not. It wasn't just one type of fire he could produce, it was different each and every time he tried. One time he would produce a continuous stream of fire, and the next he would be throwing a short fireball. He had no idea how to control it, but he had an idea of how he might be able to figure it out.

So, Hiccup started to formulate a plan. Dragons had fire, obviously, but more importantly, they knew how to use that fire. So the theory was simple, watch a dragon, try to copy what they did as well as he could, and that's how he would be able to control his weird fire-powers.

The duo scouted out a few islands to find a dragon. Hiccup had at first asked Toothless to simplify the whole process, but even the mere mention of the nest had Toothless growling with adamant refusal, so they had resorted to scouting islands manually. It took weeks, but finally, the island they were over seemed like a good candidate. It had its own pond, was fairly sized, and had distinctive burnt areas of forest hinting at some sort of dragon activity.

They landed in the island's forest and finding the dragon after that was a simple matter, a large red monstrous nightmare wasn't a particularly stealthy dragon, after all. All Hiccup had to do now was wait and watch the dragon to see how it made its fire.

Simple, right?

Well, it would be as long as that dragon didn't notice him, but of course, with his luck it did. And that is how Hiccup ended face to face with a pissed off monstrous nightmare. And if that wasn't perfect enough, he had asked Toothless to wait on the other side of the gods-damn island because he was worried about him being seen. Him, Hiccup the Useless, was worried about a Nightfury, the most elusive and stealthy of all dragons, being seen. He was able to see just how much of a miscalculation that was as the dragon before him started to gather its fire to roast him alive, or at least try. Despite Hiccup's horrendous control over his abilities, he was at least hopeful that he would be able to redirect the nightmare's fire to a less vital part of his body. As the nightmare shot a gout of fire, Hiccup raised his hands throwing out his own flames, creating a flaming clash as the two spurts met. The nightmare recoiled, eyes wide with surprise and curiosity.

He was an old dragon. And as the saying went, with age came wisdom, knowledge accumulated over the years he had lived. But this was new. A Viking, no not a Viking, with flames like a dragon. He had heard stories, stories of humans from the far south who worshiped their great wyrm ancestors, and in return, they were taught the secrets of fire. But this far north none of them resided, did they? But he couldn't deny what he was seeing. This boy, he displayed an inner fire, and now that he was examining the child closer he could smell it on him too, along with the unmistakable scent of a shadow wing. This boy was special, he could tell.

Hiccup watched the shocked dragon in front of him for a moment, before it started to sniff at him. Strangely enough, shooting fire at the dragon had somehow calmed it down, ironic. So, going out on a limb Hiccup reached out his hand and turned away in a gesture of trust. It was only a second before he felt the nightmare's scales against his palm. When he turned back to the dragon he looked into its golden yellow eyes and he felt as if his very soul was being laid bare. It was at that moment that Toothless, responding to his friend's previous distress, came bounding and snarling at the nightmare in front of him. Toothless growled out a warning to the dragon that was far too close to his best friend for his liking.

"Calm, Shadow Wing. I will not hurt the boy." The nightmare barked at the fuming night fury before him but backing down slightly to appease him. "He is special, I assume you've noticed that yourself though."

Toothless huffed, "Of course he's special. He was able to rebuild my tail and return me to the sky," he gestured to his prosthetic tail and saddle.

"What I was referring to is his fire," the nightmare gave a roll of his eyes, "but that is an impressive feat as well."

"His problem is that he can't control it very well. That's why he was watching you."

"Wise choice. I have heard stories of ones like him." That made the night fury's ears perk up. "People from the far south who learned to control flames from our great ancestors. But I had assumed they were just legends, he's the first of them that I've met."

Toothless' ear-flaps stood on end at the comment, eyes flicking between Hiccup and the nightmare, bouncing on his paws in an excited dance. "Can you teach him? I would, but my flames seem very different from his."

"I can try."

Hiccup didn't know exactly what the two dragons were talking about, but from the way they were gesturing and the inquisitive hums he could hear he guessed it was about him. That suspicion was confirmed when the nightmare turned to him and slowly started to approach. Hiccup's eyes shot to Toothless who was giving him his namesake gummy smile. Hiccup gave the nightmare a hesitant smile as it leaned close to him. What he did not expect was the nightmare to rest its head against his forehead, and what he expected even less was to get some sort of... feeling? From it. It was like images, visions? Focusing on them they seemed like movements, a sort of uploaded muscle memory for his body to follow. The nightmare lunged forward, not at him, and shot a gout of flame before looking back at Hiccup. Taking a deep breath, he tried to copy the move, using the strange visions in his head as a guide.

The nightmare thrust his head out for a low bite with its wings held high. Hiccup put out a low kick and extended one arm down in the same direction and the other back above his head. And to Hiccups excited astonishment, let out a very similar burst of flame. Hiccup continued to copy the moves, drawing from both the physical dragon in front of him and the images in his mind. He started moving on almost instinct, he planted his lower hand on the ground as a pivot point for a sweeping kick that let out a low wave of flame, a high punch delivered a fireball, he followed the dragon's movements in a strange mix of fighting and dance as he continued to produce flames. The sequence ended as the nightmare lit the rest of its body on fire, and Hiccup threw his arms back, exploding his own flames out from his whole body. He looked to the nightmare who was giving him an approving look and to the night fury that was bouncing around in excitement at what he had just witnessed. Hiccup was doing it, learning how to control his fire like a dragon, and now the doors were open and the possibilities were endless.

The nightmare followed the dragon/human duo on their new quest, a quest for Hiccup to master his fire. They sought out other dragons to assist them. The precision jets and bouncing step of nadder, the chaotic destructive power of a Zippleback, and the heavily rooted defense of the boulder class gronckle. Hiccup tried on several occasions to copy Toothless' blasts, but each time he tried he couldn't quite get it right. They were both confident that he could do it someday, he just needed to develop his skills further.

Word eventually got around the dragon community of this strange dragon-boy hatchling. One that could mimic the fires of nearly any dragon. Many dragons sought the hatchling out. Some felt bad, he was a mere fledgling with no sire or dam to teach him, so they took it upon themselves to assist his guardians. Some wanted to try to push the hatchling to his limits, to see what he was capable of.

It was a leisure flight for the duo. Their friends left behind for some quality time to themselves in the air. No matter how much time they spent in the sky the thrill never left, that went for both the boy and dragon. The sky was home for a night fury, but there was one dragon that could contest their claim to the sky.

A storm was moving quickly in their path, flashes of light and a violent roar of thunder emanating from the shrouded mass of sky. The two changed course to avoid the storm, but defying all meteorological precedent the storm changed course right after them with building speed. Even with the speed of a night fury, it wasn't long until they were engulfed by the clouds, encasing them in the dark void of the storm.

Lightning flashed and spiraled like luminescent daggers and the thunder that followed was like a berserker warcry. Turbulent winds disoriented the duo as they were thrown about. It was as if Thor himself had decided to torment them. The storm fought them with an almost sentience as they battled gale-force winds and dodged streaks of lightning.

As they struggled to escape the storm, lightning outlined an unmistakable silhouette in the clouds, eliciting a deep growl from the night fury. Above them was a dark shadow of a wyvern with violent spikes protruding from its wings, head, and spine with lightning arcing between them. Its wide-open maw presenting its built-up charge of electricity as the duo's only warning of the impending attack. Dropping into a barrel roll they barely managed to avoid the brunt of the strike, the air around them tingling with the discharged static. Another blinding white streak and accompanying percussion followed a second later as the two flew away from the strike, but as they dashed, fighting the wind, the lightning made a break for the metal stirrups sending a painful jolt of electricity up Hiccup's leg. Spinning in mid-air, they got their first good look at their assailant.

It was a skrill, one of the few strike-class dragons known to Vikings, and the most dangerous dragon second only to the night fury itself. Toothless glared at the lightning-bending dragon with contempt, a disdain for the natural enemy of his species. But the skrill itself only had eyes for the boy, the boy he had heard so much about, the fire-making human who consorted with a night fury. An arrogant child who thought himself equal to the dragons who foolishly taught him.

Another blast of lightning narrowly missed the duo. Toothless loosed a plasma blast and Hiccup his own stream of fire, but the attacks were defused in the wrath of the storm, the charged air leaving them only a mild annoyance to the skrill. The next blast of lightning wasn't so easy to dodge while fighting the wind as it caught the tail control rods sending a painful rush of electricity through them both. It was in that moment that they both knew there was no running from this, the storm and skrill were too powerful, and already trapped in the storm like this there was no way to escape the wind and lightning. The sky may be the night fury's domain, but this storm was the skrill's. The skrill could control the lightning, redirect it, and as Hiccup watched the dragon with streaks of lightning being drawn to it like iron to a magnet, an idea began to form. One look in the eye of his dragon companion was all that was needed to communicate this revelation.

The next strike was smaller and they didn't dodge it. Hiccup felt the lightning course through his body as he focused on it. The way the electricity ran through him as its conductor, moved through his body on seemingly predesignated paths, he focused his will on that energy and felt its path change. He knew what he needed to do, and he knew if he failed, they would both die.

The next moments seemed to move slower. The skrill charged up yet another blast of lightning and the white stream launched and branched off like a demented tree as it moved towards its target. Hiccup held his arms out receiving the bolt in his open hands. He could feel it, the intense energy of the lightning as it entered his body, but he didn't let it move unhindered. Concentrating the flow he directed it through his body towards his stomach, his own energy, he felt the power of the bolt rip through him, exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. As it hit his stomach, he shot his arms back out, expelling the energy in his own bolt against the skrill.

Unlike the night fury, the skrill couldn't move fast enough as it was hit by the might of its own strike. The lightning diffused back into it through its conducive bones unharmed but the look of shocked awe was apparent. This boy, a mere hatchling, had redirected lightning, his lightning, back at him. But it wasn't over yet, reaching out his arms and closing his eyes in a moment of pure focus, the scraps of static in the air around Hiccup started to move, bolts of lightning made their way into his hands, starting at mere jolts but quickly escalating into bolts at the level of the skrill itself. Lightning arced between his hands as his eyes opened to observe his feat. The boy held the lightning for a moment longer to marvel at it before drawing it into himself to be released, his control of the lightning almost identical to the skrill itself.

Blasts of lightning were shot and reflected, a volley of electrical power that would make Thor himself blush. But with the skrill's main attack countered and faceted with the flurry of night fury blasts, streams of fire, and lightning, the skrill recognized the losing battle, fleeing in the cover of the storm from its opponents.

Toothless looked up at his best friend, brother even, with pride as they flew out of the storm. And Hiccup looked back at him with a look of pure joy. He had come so far from the sad hatchling that he was before their journey. One they touched down back on their island camp, Toothless promptly threw Hiccup off his back and gave him a bath of licks. Now it was time to teach Hiccup to shoot blasts like a night fury. It would take time and practice, but he would do it.

They continued their journey south. The wise old nightmare eventually departed. He had taught the hatchling much, and he felt that he had given all he could teach. So he left the two that he had been with for so many months and left the rest of Hiccup's training to his dragon brother.

Eventually, the regular sight of small island resting points was disrupted. In the distance, they saw a landmass larger than any they had seen before, and from the air they could see the lights of human civilization. It was a city larger than Hiccup had ever seen, with incredible architecture and in its shipyards giant ships that leaked steam from their masts and appeared to be made of metal.

And hanging on those ships was a banner with an insignia of fire.