Stuck on You

Hiccup's metal leg gets jammed in Toothless's stirrup and they're stuck together on the opposite side of the Edge. Their dilemma gets more complicated when dragon hunters are found infiltrating the island.

It was cold on this side of Dragon's Edge. The mountains had their usual coating of snow, and Hiccup could see both his and Toothless's breaths. Swinging past the watchtower, Hiccup glanced at the horizon. Dark storm clouds were incoming.

"Let's just get the Night Terrors and go home." He suggested, to which Toothless warbled in agreement.

Going into a hover, the two got a close look inside the watchtowers where the Night Terrors were huddled in pairs, shivering. Hiccup beckoned them with a hand. "Let's go, gang– it's to the stables with you. No one should be out in this storm."

The Night Terrors clambered out eagerly and tailed Toothless on the way back. Hiccup blew into his hands and ducked in the saddle. The severity of the weather was increasing much faster than he anticipated. "Alright, bud, let's go, let's go," he urged, and Toothless pushed on faster.

The stables were a sight for sore eyes. Toothless dipped into a dive and swept on the landing. The Night Terrors clumsily landed on all sides of him, and wasting no time Hiccup dragged open the stable door.

"In you go!" He announced, watching as the Night Terrors flew to safety. He and Toothless rounded them up into the pens, and once they were tucked away in a comfortable pile Hiccup's heart suddenly plummeted.

"Wait, where's Smidvarg?"

The only white Night Terror was not among them. After a quick scan of the rest of the stables, Hiccup confirmed he was nowhere to be found. Toothless, knowing exactly what his rider was thinking, flattened his ear plates against his head defiantly.

"Come on, bud. We have to go after him." Hiccup insisted, and the look Toothless gave him was clearly saying no. "How would you feel if you found out he was in trouble, and we did nothing to help him?"

Toothless grumbled but caved. Hiccup returned to the saddle, patting his dragon's head. "Don't worry. We'll just have to be quick." Giving the ominous sky a final glance, they headed back into the fray.

Hiccup could see nothing when the rain hit and had to fully rely on Toothless. The rain turned to snow the closer they got to the mountain, though it felt more like sleets of ice. Bitter gusts swept his hair back and made his hands go numb. While he trusted Smidvarg knew the way back to the Edge, he couldn't let him go until he knew he was safe.

"He's got to be around here somewhere," Hiccup said, almost hysterically. The storm was so thick Toothless had to use his sonar to navigate. "Anything, bud?–Whoa!"

A powerful wave of wind thrusted them to the side. Toothless roared with effort as he fought against the gust, but it became too much for his broad wings. He teetered out of control and crashed on his side, skidding far across the snowy mountainside and coming to a slow halt.

Toothless prodded Hiccup with his snout but got no response. The dragon warbled helplessly– he was too beat up to try moving. He wrapped Hiccup in a wing and the storm raged on.

Hiccup woke up to his left leg being wrenched in the air. Yelping, he swung his arms about, trying with difficulty to regain his footing, and found that he was unable to pull his leg free.

Twisting to the side, Hiccup first saw Toothless shaking clumps of snow off his head and wings, and next noticed the reason for his dilemma–his prosthetic leg was lodged in the stirrup.

It took several moments for the situation to process. Hiccup was wet and cold– hardly the latter, he was more numb actually– and he was covered from head to toe in snow. He brushed it out of his hair and sized up the damage.

Toothless appeared to be fine, sustaining no injuries other than bruises from the crash, no doubt. His saddle was in good condition, other than the metallic stirrup that currently held Hiccup's leg captive. He reached for the knot to detach it, but quickly gave up and instead hugged his arms around himself. His fingers felt like fat icicles.

"Okay, so… any ideas?" Hiccup asked brightly, and shooting him a cold look Toothless snorted. Hiccup was affronted. "I could do without the sass."

Shaking his head, Toothless started walking to a nearby frozen stream. Realizing this too late, Hiccup lost his balance and flailed awkwardly. He gripped the saddle and heaved upright, saying crossly, "A little warning next time would be nice."

Toothless warbled uncaringly. He broke the ice and lapped at the water, all the while keeping Hiccup on his toes– literally– as his left leg was still bent into the stirrup.

"Alright, alright, I get it– you're mad at me. But Toothless, think about how bad you would feel if we left Smidvarg when he needed our help."

At that moment, the familiar screech of a Night Terror pierced the sky above them. Hiccup and Toothless both looked up to see a happy little white dragon flailing at them in greeting.

"Smidvarg!" Hiccup exclaimed, relieved. Smidvarg squealed before flapping away in the direction of the base, almost invisible against the snowy landscape.

Toothless glared at Hiccup stonily.

"Okay, so he didn't need our help. But no harm done." On instinct, Hiccup whipped his head around to check Toothless's tail, and was glad to see it was intact. "Well– except for the leg, of course."

The sky was light blue and cloudless like a typical summer's day. Hiccup wouldn't have believed it had stormed if not for the occasional tree branch or how much further his knee sunk under the white powder. He grabbed Toothless's saddle and wrenched himself up. "Alright, then. Let's get back to the Edge so we can fix this. Hopefully the storm didn't do much damage–"

Toothless made a snuffing noise and laid down.

"Wh– Toothless." Hiccup put his hands on his sides. "We have to get back to the base." Toothless however didn't move. "What, are you just going to lay there until I apologize?"

Toothless snorted as if confirming this.

Hiccup couldn't believe he was having this conversation. "Okay, well, guess what? We're both stuck here, cold and hungry, and we're going to stay that way until you get a move on."

Toothless growled some more and rolled over. Hiccup wheezed as the breath was knocked out of him under his dragon's weight.

"Alright– alright, fine, you win!" Hiccup gasped, and with a smug grin Toothless got back up. Hiccup rolled his eyes good-naturedly and patted his dragon's side. "Shall we?"

Toothless began to nod then froze, ear plates perked. Tensing, Hiccup looked around to see what had startled the Night Fury.

"What–"

Toothless reared on his hind legs suddenly and shot a plasma blast. Hiccup had to tighten his grip to keep from falling, and turning wildly in the direction of the blast he was met with dragon hunters peering around the now smoldering trees they sheltered behind.

Hiccup had no idea where they came from or how long they had been on the island, but he knew they were not welcome. "Toothless, go!" He ordered, and preparing for flight Toothless made a strong leap.

They were airborne for a second or so before Toothless plummeted on his nose. Thrusting his head out of the snow, Toothless shook himself in shock, and Hiccup immediately understood the problem.

His metal leg wasn't only stuck in the stirrup, it had broken the stirrup. Unless he was strong enough to bend metal back into shape, Toothless's tail was useless, and in extension flying was quite impossible.

Apparently, the hunters had realized this too. Their confidence building, the burly men left the covering of the trees with readied crossbows. Toothless raised his spine aggressively, but Hiccup tugged at the saddle.

"No, Toothless, move!" He shouted, and just in time Toothless lunged to the side, the arrows sweeping past by inches. More arrows followed the first few, and with Hiccup's guidance Toothless plunged down the mountain.

Hiccup rarely traversed this side of Dragon's Edge, much less on foot. Cursing himself for being so ignorant, he slowed Toothless to a stop in a small glade, and they glanced one way and the next. Every tree and every hill looked the same. It was like being on some remote island far, far away from home.

The click of crossbows being reloaded spurred Toothless on. Hiccup looked back at their pursuers and had to duck to avoid more arrows. They were moving too quickly for him to determine how many were after them. Their only chance was to get reinforcements, but which way was the base?

The snow gradually got thinner as they left the mountain behind. These woods were green and thick, but it wasn't long until Toothless threw himself out into a wide open space. The ocean stretched out ahead of them beyond the long beach, but what stood out to Hiccup most were the three ships bearing dragon hunter sails.

A bola was thrown just shy of them. Toothless snarled fiercely at the oncoming hunters, shooting their crossbows out of their hands and blasting the sand at their feet. Hiccup noticed more coming from the opposite beach and shouted a warning, but it was too late. A bola wrapped around Toothless's muzzle, promptly halting all firepower, and they became quickly surrounded.

"The catch of the day!" An unwelcoming voice boomed, and Hiccup glared up at Ryker. The hunter's eyes glinted victoriously. "When my hunters reported seeing a dragon crash on the mountain, I didn't think it would be yours."

It was a bit humiliating, being caught on his own island. However Hiccup also burned with questions. "How did you do it?" He asked, warily eyeing the loaded crossbows. "No one could have sailed safely in that storm."

"Um, no one, except for us!" Dagur's voice proclaimed, and he stomped next to Ryker with his fists on his sides. "We knew it would be easy to infiltrate your little hideaway with that storm as a distraction. We were going to pick you dragon riders off one by one, but you've just made things a lot easier for us!"

"Quit telling him our plan," Ryker scolded, and Dagur scowled. Then Ryker turned to Hiccup. "You're surrounded and outnumbered. Dismount your dragon– now."

Hiccup's heart traveled very quickly from his chest to his stomach. Toothless glanced at him from the corner of his eye with a look that said, 'Well, shoot.'

"You're a reasonable boy, Hiccup Haddock," Ryker continued. "Try and see things my way… I can't have my prisoners flying away on us now, can I?"

Hiccup held his breath. "Uh, about that…"

The surrounding hunters started chuckling. Hiccup thought fast, wondering if arguing was really wise. Ryker crossed his arms. "My men will shoot at my command. Don't try my patience…"

"Wouldn't dream of it." Hiccup stalled. There was nothing he could do, and he wasn't about to admit it in the face of his enemies. Then Ryker motioned to his hunters, and the crossbows clicked, about to fire, and Hiccup swallowed his pride.

"I can't."

By the hunter's faces, this was clearly not what they expected. He may as well have sprouted wings of his own the way they all stared at him.

"What do you mean, you can't?" Ryker demanded.

"I mean I can't. My leg's stuck," Hiccup explained, and the bewildered expressions intensified.

Entirely befuddled, Dagur got a closer look, ignoring Toothless's growls. Then he started to laugh. "What– Ha! It is stuck! Look at that! Right there in the–" At once he frowned deeply. "How do we know this isn't some kind of dragon rider trick?"

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "You think I planned this? It got damaged in the storm."

Dagur and Ryker stared at Hiccup and Toothless who stared back. Dagur's suspicious face then brightened.

"I'm sure we can get it out."

"Wait, what– hey!"

Even if Hiccup wasn't limited to such an awkward position, it would have been next to impossible to shove the beefy Viking away. They wrestled briefly as Dagur tried to detach the metal leg from the saddle and Hiccup tried to put as much distance between them as possible.

"Would you stop shoving, I almost got it–" Dagur grunted.

"Get off me!" Hiccup shouted.

Toothless couldn't do much with so many crossbows aimed at them. After a prolonged scuffle of this, the Berserker wiped his brow and stepped back.

"Try now," Dagur invited, and feeling rather violated Hiccup tested his leg. It remained stubbornly stuck in the mangled stirrup.

"Huh." Dagur visibly slumped. "I really thought that would work."

Ryker snorted. "This is ridiculous. Just load them up together!"

As the hunters put away their crossbows to grab their nets, Hiccup clicked Toothless's tail open. "Thanks!"

In one swoop, Toothless took off. The resulting wind knocked the hunters off their feet. Dagur roared furiously. "It DID work! HEY! WE CAPTURED YOU FAIR AND SQUARE– COME BACK HERE!"

Spitting sand out of his mouth, Ryker walked right up to Dagur and smacked him over the skull.

In seconds, Hiccup and Toothless were halfway around the island. It felt great to be in the air again. Hiccup gave a satisfied sigh. "See, bud? It all worked out. And you got all hung up for nothing."

Toothless grumbled in reluctant agreement. Hiccup chuckled, then frowned. "Although technically it was Dagur who freed us."

Toothless made a noise like, 'It's best not to think about it.' Hiccup patted his dragon's head and they pushed on to the Outpost.

The Edge was alive with the other riders working to clear out the damage of last night's storm. Hiccup would have made some remark about how impressed he was of them taking that kind of initiative if they hadn't had a more important issue at hand.

"Hiccup!" Astrid made Stormfly drop a fallen tree from her talons in surprise. "Where have you–"

"Freak winter storm," Hiccup replied with a smile. "Yep. Also, who's up for blasting some dragon hunters into oblivion?"

A/N: I enjoyed this chapter, though I had to rewrite the ending probably ten times before I was satisfied with it. Hope you enjoyed!