Lightning And Death Itself Chapter 2
Hiccup was so shaken by his unexpected transformation into a dragon, he completely forgot that there was someone else in the air when it happened.
Astrid was clinging to Hiccup when the Night Fury plunged into the Vortex, but she quickly let go to cover her eyes with her hands, trying to ward off the sights and sounds that overwhelmed her. She screamed, and to her horror, her alto scream dropped in pitch to a baritone bellow that no human voice box could produce. She felt the shape of her face changing, felt her skin breaking out in scales, just before her arms became too short to reach her face. She found herself tumbling through the sky.
When Toothless and Hiccup had snatched her off the ground earlier that afternoon, she had clung to the Night Fury's paw in panic. Then she realized it was a dragon's paw and released it. Then she realized she was a hundred feet off the ground and clutched it again. She now did something very similar. She spread her unfamiliar wings to stop herself from falling. Then she realized they were dragon's wings and let them go limp, unwilling to even try to control them. Then she felt herself falling and spread them again.
"This can't be happening!" she thought. "I just came in second in dragon training! My mother and father are waiting for me at home! I hate dragons! This can't be real!" Unlike Hiccup, who flew without trying to think about it, she tried to make her wings and tail work, and succeeded only in spinning herself out of control.
The ground was getting closer by the second. She focused on her wings, and got them straight out. Now she was moving in a straight line... straight toward the ground. How could she steer? The tail, maybe? She curved it upward, and her flight line changed. Innate reflexes kicked in for a moment before she tried to control them. Somehow she got her descent under control and skidded to a halt in the forest that covered the north half of the island of Berk, cutting a swath through the undergrowth. She had no idea where she was. For that matter, she wasn't sure what she was.
For several minutes, she stood stock-still, quivering with shock. When she decided to move, it was hard; she had not walked on all fours since she was a baby, and she hadn't had a tail trailing behind her then. It was slow going. It was getting dark. Where should she go?
She decided to follow the sounds of other dragons. At least they wouldn't kill her on sight, she hoped. They were nearby, and they were not quiet.
Hiccup opened his eyes, which were wet with tears. He looked at himself again. He still had a black-on-black scaly body, four legs, wings, and a tail. "If this is a nightmare, someone wake me up!" he begged out loud.
"Not a Nightmare, a Night Fury!" Toothless corrected him. "Please tell me you know the difference."
Hiccup rolled to his feet and backed away. "Toothless? You're talking! How...?"
"I've been talking all along, but you couldn't understand me," Toothless answered. "Now you're a dragon like me, so you can understand me, and any other dragon, for that matter."
"I'm not a dragon!" Hiccup moaned. "I'm a human! I'm Hiccup! Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, son of Stoick the Vast! I'm a Viking! Not a dragon! I am a Viking!"
"You told me that once before," Toothless said. "You didn't really believe it then. You can't convince me you believe it now."
"But if I'm not a Viking, then what else can I be?" Hiccup asked wildly.
"How about a Night Fury?" Toothless knew that most humans had a hard time with the transformation at first, but it seemed like Hiccup was being clueless on purpose.
"I can't do that!" he protested. "Maybe I walk like you and I talk like you, but I think like... me!"
"That will change with time," Toothless replied. "You won't lose your memories or your personality, but your way of thinking will change. You'll be a dragon, just like me."
"No! No!" Hiccup shook his head. "I can't be a dragon! Vikings kill dragons! If I go home like this, they'll kill me! My father..." He stopped in shock. "My own father will kill me. Really kill me."
"Then maybe you shouldn't go home," Toothless said softly.
"But where else could I..." Hiccup let the words trail off; he'd had a dangerous thought. "Toothless, did you do this to me?"
"You make it sound like I did something bad," Toothless answered.
"Something bad?" Hiccup almost screamed. "Look what you did to me! You took away my body! You took away my family, my tribe, my village... everything! Oh, gods! Oh, gods!" He broke down crying again.
"Hiccup, listen to me!" Toothless pleaded, moving closer to him. "I'm Toothless! I'm your friend! We've shared food, we've flown together, we've trusted each other with our lives! Would I do anything to hurt you?"
Hiccup opened one eye. "I don't think so. I mean, I didn't used to think so. Everything is upside-down now!" He took a deep breath. "Tell me one thing, Toothless. Why did you do it?"
Toothless lay down and wrapped his tail around himself. "The long answer would take a while. The short answer is, I did you a favor."
"A favor?" Hiccup forced himself to laugh. "A favor! You took away everything I ever had, and gave me a body that's on every Viking's 'Ten Most Wanted' list. Maybe I'm having trouble with dragon language and I don't know what 'favor' means. Yeah, that's it."
Toothless looked intently into his eyes. "Hiccup, what did I take away that you ever wanted to keep? You kept telling me about the villagers, and how they all call you Hiccup the Useless. About your friends, and how they'd insult you and abuse you when they weren't ignoring you. About your father, and how he has time and energy and patience for everyone else but you. Now you're suddenly telling me you miss them all?"
In a small voice, Hiccup answered, "They're all I've got."
"Wrong again!" Toothless corrected him. "Let me tell you what you've got." He rose and began pacing back and forth as he spoke.
"You've got the body of a Night Fury, the rarest and greatest of all dragons. You'll be at the top of dragon society, except for the Mother, of course. Dragons are a lot friendlier than you think, and you'll make friends, real friends who like you and respect you and don't stab you in the back. You'll have a lot more friends among us than you'd ever have in that narrow-minded little village. In our community, you'll fit in.
"You've got the skills of the greatest of all flying creatures. I knew you were a natural at flying when we made it through those rocks, but I didn't know how natural until you brought me in without my tail just now. That kind of air-to-air rescue is not an easy thing, but you did it perfectly on the first try. The first thing you ever did as a dragon, you did right! That's quite a change from Hiccup the Useless, don't you think?
"You've got a life. We Night Furies live for hundreds of years, so you've got a lot of life. You'll own the skies; you can go anywhere you want, any time you want. You want to travel? Take off; you'll see things that no Viking will ever lay eyes on. You want adventure? Go find some; it's everywhere. You want company? Join any group of dragons anywhere, and they'll welcome you. You want peace and quiet? Any treetop or mountaintop will do. No more shoveling coal and sharpening swords for you, Hiccup! You're a creature of the sky! You can really start to live now.
"And you've got a mate. That girl you like so much, the one who was riding behind you? She turned into a Night Fury, too. She's getting close; I can hear her. You're destined for each other. And you're a fine-looking dragon, if you don't mind my saying so. She'll go for you. You'll be happy together for a very, very long time, which is something that wouldn't happen in that village, now, would it?
"So how can you say you've got nothing? Hiccup, I've given you everything! I've fulfilled your every dream, your every wish! Everything you ever wanted in life is waiting for you to reach out and take it. The least you could do is have the good manners to say 'Thank you'."
"Thank you?" Hiccup stared at the creature that, until very recently, he'd thought of as his best friend. He opened his mouth, and the words he had said earlier in the day with dry sarcasm, now came out with a despairing sob. "Thank you for nothing, you useless reptile!"