Tuffnut and Ruffnut had been standing nearby when Hiccup's hut literally blew up. Tuffnut gasped.
"Whoa. Looks like Toothless is mad at something." He turned to his sister, who nodded. Barf and Belch exchanged a glance.
"Should we go help?" Barf asked his other side.
"Hiccup is our friend, as is Toothless." Belch answered. "We have to help them. What decent dragon wouldn't?"
The Zippleback heads grabbed their riders and flew off toward the Haddock hut. Well, what was left of it. The remains that were still there were smoking slightly, and standing there was a shocked Stoick the Vast, an irritated and flabbergasted Toothless, a desperate Astrid, a confused Gobber, and Stormfly.
Barf 'n' Belch landed nearby, gently placed their riders down, and looked around at the sight. Astrid was the first to move, running for the centre of the wreckage. There was an ominous creak from the wood they were standing on.
Hiccup was crouching under his destroyed bed, whimpering and shaking. Akey moved toward him, and heard what he was saying.
"I'm not a dragon, I'm not a dragon, I'm not-" Hiccup broke off into sobs.
"Hic-cup, come- on- o-out. It's o-o-okay. No-b-body was h-hurt." Akey soothed, peeking his head under the burnt bed frame.
Hiccup looked up at him, his face streaked with tears, some ash on his face. His black ears were all the way back, pinned to the top of his head.
"I'm not a d-d-" He gasped and winced. "I'm a monster..."
"No." Akey asserted, not stuttering for the first time. "You are not."
Toothless unfroze for the first time, moving to his rider and causing the hut's supports to creak menacingly with the shift of weight.
"He's right... oh, if only I could tell you how right he is, Hiccup..." Toothless crooned, nudging Hiccup with his nose. "I promise you'll be okay..." Toothless knew how empty the promise was.
He hated the helpless feeling that he couldn't do anything for Hiccup. He winced and drew his tongue over Hiccup's head, soaking his hair and face. Hiccup let out a protest, gently pushing Toothless's head away but not really trying, also attempting to get the slobber off his face.
"Toothless, you know that doesn't wash out..." Hiccup mumbled, acting more like himself. "Th-thanks, bud..."
After the shock of everything wore off, everyone crowded into the clubhouse to talk about everything. Hiccup was curled next to Toothless, with Astrid kneeling next to him and Akey sitting uneasily nearby.
Despite the plan to talk... no one did for while. An awkward silence ensued. Snotlout was the first to speak.
"So... now what?" He asked nervously.
"Hiccup can stay with me." Astrid stated.
"No." Hiccup said, shakily at first, and then louder and firmer. "No, I won't burden you like that, Astrid. I might destroy your hut too."
"You won't." Astrid replied.
"I destroyed mine." Hiccup stated flatly.
Stoick spoke up. "That was an accident. You were startled."
"By you." Toothless pointed out. Hiccup jumped and turned to Toothless.
"What did you just say?" The teen asked. Toothless turned back to him, ears tilting with confusion.
"Huh?" The Night Fury grumbled. "What do you mean, what did I say, you've never-" His eyes widened with surprise. So did Hiccup's.
"I can- I-I can understand you, Toothless!" Hiccup said, a smile slowly forming on his face. "This is great!"
Toothless grinned too, teeth retracted. "Well, at least there's something positive about this experience!"
Hiccup cuddled closer to Toothless, smiling. "You said it, bud."
"So, this is fine and all, but what are we gonna do ta fix this?" Gobber piped up. "We can't have Hiccup as, well... this, can we?" He gestured to Hiccup. "Eh, no offence."
Toothless snorted dismissively and wrapped his tail around Hiccup.
Stoick placed his hands on the center table. "Alright, we have to go over the situation, calmly. Hiccup is... this. We have to find a way to get him back to normal. And from what I've heard, we don't have much time to do it. Whatever we do, we do it now."
Fishlegs looked nervous. "But... we don't know anything. And what we do know... isn't very promising." The Ingerman looked rather upset. At this, Akey moved over to the table and climbed up onto it, looking up at the chief. The boy was very small in comparison.
"S-sir? I-" He seemed to be considering what to say. "Hiccup c-can't-" He took a deep breath, shaking. "Can't be saved. I- lots of people I- I mean-" He drooped. "I d-don't know w-why I'm like this. Everyone I get close to, everyone I want to care about- they all end up the same way." The boy was shaking. "They all die. Because of me. Because there's something wrong with me. And... there's nothing I can do to change it. Nothing I try works. Nothing changes. I-" He stopped abruptly. Stoick looked stormy. There was a heavy silence in the room.
"No." Stoick said, his voice dangerously low. "NO." He growled, pounding a fist on the table. Akey seemed to shrink even more. "I refuse to believe this. I refuse to believe that my son is going to die like this. He's a Haddock. Haddocks don't go out without a fight, and we are going to find something. We are going to save him."
Days crawled by, and Hiccup was losing himself more and more with every handful of days. Akey decided to try his best to help, even though he wasn't hopeful. One morning, when Hiccup was more himself, he tugged on the haddock's arm.
"F-follow m-m-me." He stuttered.
"What's up?" Hiccup mumbled, but let himself be dragged along by the small boy. Akey took him to a cliff on the edge.
"I want y-you to try f-flying." Akey pronounced. As if they agreed, Hiccup's wings spread slightly, and the tail-fins opened up and flattened themselves on his tail.
"Oh, no, that's a bad idea." Hiccup said firmly. "Astrid would kill me." He still peered over the edge, his wings twitching ever wider with the idea. Freedom. He knew it from the taste he had first gotten in the cove, day after day of slight modification to Toothless' prosthetic, the first test drive. The rush of wind hitting you, your heart racing, stomach clenching with each dive. It wasn't for the faint of heart.
But for him, it felt right.
But flying himself? He had never flown. It seemed like a very bad idea. "Shouldn't we uh... go somewhere that has less chance of me dying if I can't fly?" Hiccup suggested. Akey nodded.
"Kay." Akey chirped. Hiccup sighed and turned toward a different area of the island. A large area with some high hills, but no real large drops. If he couldn't get airborne, perhaps he'd just tumble in the grass instead of falling to his death. Seemed like a good idea.
"Alright, how do I do this?" Hiccup asked, turning to Akey. The boy cocked his head to one side. He hadn't expected to give detailed explanations.
"Just t-try." Akey stated. At Hiccup's not very impressed look, he sighed softly. "Open your w-wings." Hiccup did so, spreading them. "C-crouch and p-put your w-weight in your f-f-front legs." Hiccup got onto all fours and crouched, which was awkward, but he felt a rush of determination. He had wings. He was going to fly.
"Got it. What now?"
"Open your t-tail-fins. Tilt them upwards slightly. D-don't flatten them, that's f-f-for gliding." Hiccup tested the muscles, shifting them around and looking back at his tail. He had never had a tail before, this was going to be different. He found himself concentrating hard to move them, and hold his wings out. So many muscles. This was weird. "Okay, to t-take off, spring with your f-front legs, and then p-push with your back l-legs, then pump your w-wings. That sh-should get you in the air."
Hiccup went over the steps over and over in his head, trying to memorize the muscles to move. Taking a deep breath, he tried to concentrate, and-
Push.
Jump.
Flap.
Now what?
Splat.
"Ouch." Hiccup had made it up, flapped, then failed to flap again, so he had fell right back where he had started, skidding face first in the grass, tail and wings splayed behind him. "Okay, what am I supposed to do after I get up there?" Hiccup asked, rubbing grass off his face with a paw.
"Flap." Akey said simply. "I th-thought your instincts would h-have k-k-kicked in."
"I'm not a dragon, so they didn't." Hiccup snorted.
"J-just try again." Akey said.
Hiccup nodded, putting himself in position, concentrating, memorizing-
Push.
Jump.
Flap.
Flap.
Was he doing it? He was pumping his wings as hard as he could, trying desperately to get altitude.
"Your tail-fins!" Akey yelled. "S-slightly up! Up! Not flat!"
He tried to flap and move his tail-fins at the same time. How does Toothless do this?!
Frantic, he flapped more, managing to flip himself sideways and land ungracefully on the hill.
"Ouch." He grunted, pushing himself up again. "Well that was unsuccessful." He shook off his wings, which were covered in grass from the short roll. "I don't think I can do this, Akey." Hiccup sighed, flopping back first onto the hillside. He felt something press against him and stiffened for a moment. It was Akey. He flopped right next to Hiccup, scooting closer to the Haddock.
"You're thinking t-too much." The boy commented, staring Hiccup in the eyes.
"How so? I mean, if I don't think about it, I'll forget a step!" Hiccup snapped, exasperated.
Akey smiled. "No you w-won't."
"Yes I will. You can't do anything without planning first. You can't build a house, or a saddle, or make a shirt without some sort of forethought. A blueprint. A pattern." Hiccup motioned with his paws. "When I built Toothless' fin, I used a pattern I drew up first. I had too, or else I would have stumbled through a blind process, and he never would have flown."
"You can't plan everything, Hiccup." Akey murmured. "You can't plan for every burst of wind, every storm, every unexpected event. You have to go with the flow sometimes."
Hiccup ignored the fact that Akey didn't stutter through that entire heartfelt and incredibly insightful sentence and tried to think about what he had said.
You can't plan everything.
"I guess that's also a metaphor for life, huh." Hiccup said softly. "You can't plan for being suddenly transformed into a dragon."
Akey remained silent. Hiccup remembered what the boy had said in the clubhouse.
Everyone I get close to, everyone I want to care about- they all end up the same way. They all die. Because of me. Because there's something wrong with me. And... there's nothing I can do to change it. Nothing I try works. Nothing changes.
Hiccup sighed softly and wrapped a paw around Akey's shoulders.
"Hey. I'm ready to try again." He sat up, and got into the ready position. He turned to see Akey had sat up and was watching him. Behind the slightly encouraging smile was a huge amount of pain and regret.
He's thinking about it too.
Hiccup went over the steps again, focusing. Then, he tried to focus on something he'd been trying to ignore and repress. That part of him that was dragon. That part of him that could understand Toothless. That part of him that could breathe fire.
The part that knew how to fly.
You can't plan everything.
He took a deep breath.
Push.
Jump.
Flap.
Don't think.
He struggled slightly, his mind was screaming to think. That dragon part, the one that scared him? It told him to fly. He continued flapping, taking every second one at a time. Slight breeze from his left. Flap. Breathe. It was working. He hadn't realized his eyes had been closed, but once he opened them- he realized just how high he had gotten. He snapped his wings out to glide.
Flat to glide.
His tail-fins obeyed, holding themselves out flat. The small wings at the base of his tail spread out to their fullest. He was flying. He was in the air. A joyful whoop ripped from his lungs before he could stop it.
The freedom.
It was so... there.
His heart was racing, and that familiar rush or pure adrenaline shot through him. He twitched a tail-fin experimentally to the right. He banked slightly in that direction. He looked down at the hills below. Akey was a small little speck below, staring up at him. There was another speck. A larger one. Hiccup nearly fell out of the sky when he recognized Toothless, far below. Even from here, he could see terror in his friend's eyes.
He pulled his wings in slightly and began to descend. He couldn't help the smile on his face when he crashed somewhat ungracefully, a tangle of Hiccup and paws and tail on the ground like goofy hatchling in front of Toothless.
"Did you see me? I was flying!" Hiccup stood on two legs and then proceeded to trip on his tail. Once he was up, he received a cuff to the head."Ow!"
'I can't believe you! That was incredibly reckless! You have no clue how worried I was!' Toothless barked. 'The Dragonfly isn't enough for you, huh? You're going to make my scales go grey prematurely! And don't look at me like that, I know you can understand me!'
Hiccup couldn't frown even slightly in the face of his friend's scolding. He had just flown with the wings of a dragon. He was never going to forget that.
