With the rush of his success in flight, Hiccup got it into his head to try doing other dragon things, which his father heavily disapproved of.
"We're trying to make you human, not more dragon." The chief said firmly, although he didn't expect his wishes to be obeyed by any stretch of the imagination. He was right. Only half an hour after saying this to Hiccup, said party was attempting to fly again, this time in slower bursts, with Toothless watching, and not going as high. The Night Fury wouldn't have it any differently. He insisted on watching.
Hiccup was determined to master flying in an incredibly short span of time, so he was pushing himself harder than was ideal. It kept him sane, however, having something other than his near insanity and death and the fact that all this was happening to focus on, it was helping him relax. Flying was hard, yet at the same time, relaxing.
If he could just learn how to turn better.
He crashed for the umpteenth time into a rock he had tried to avoid. Fortunately for him, he had managed to slow himself down so he didn't break anything, but it still left a somewhat sore bunch of ribs. Toothless bounded over, already preparing for serious injury and to tell Hiccup off. Hiccup was standing already, rubbing at where he had smacked the rock.
"That's gonna leave a mark."
His friend reached him and began sniffing him over, brow furrowed with concern.
'You really have to master your turning.' The Night Fury grumbled.
"You're telling me." Hiccup agreed. He pulled up his tunic, and sure enough, there was a bruise. Akey walked up as well.
"Th-that doesn't look s-so bad. A-as long as nothing's broken..." He mumbled. Toothless sniffed.
'Humans are more fragile than dragons. They get hurt easier.' He winced at memories of Hiccup's difficulty getting used to his lost hind-leg years before. 'We heal easier, and have stronger bones, harder scales. This could be worse than it looks.'
"Nah, I'm fine, bud. Besides, I'm dragon now, aren't I? I can take it." Hiccup batted one of Toothless' ears playfully with a paw.
'I don't think you're taking this as seriously as you should.' Toothless grunted.
"Whatever." Hiccup said. 'No prodding.' He grumbled, testing his dragonese.
"I think you m-mean no problem.' Akey corrected.
"Thanks." Hiccup smiled, getting himself into the familiar take-off position again. He took deep breaths, narrowing his eyes. His tail swished back and forth before settling directly behind him and opening out to fly. He sprang from the ground and pumped his wings, gaining a meter of height in a moment. He opened his wings into a straight position, flapping a couple times to fly nice and straight across the valley from one side to the other and putting out his paws to land.
Which was another thing he needed to work on.
"C'mon..."
He landed unsteadily on his front legs, which sent a ripple of discomfort up through his arms and shoulders. He managed to stop himself using his front paws, landing belly first in the grass. His smoothest landing yet. He jumped up with a whoop and did a celebratory twirl, managing to trip himself with his tail for the hundredth time and landing face first on the hill. It didn't do anything to smother his victory, he rolled over and looked up at the clouds, collecting himself for another try when Toothless' face blotted out the sky above.
'Not bad.' He grunted. 'If you want to shatter your shoulder-bones and break your arms.'
"Hey, that was my best yet, bud!" Hiccup complained, aiming a playful swipe at his friend.
'You have to land on your tougher hind-legs, soft-scales!' Toothless snorted, rolling his acid-green eyes, another thing he had picked up from Hiccup.
"Well, how do you suppose I do that, fluff for brains?" Hiccup snorted. "I fly forwards, not backwards. You're built for this, your legs are below you. Mine fly out behind me. Your front legs are tough."
'Adapt. You're good at it. Eel-breath.'
"Hey, that's uncalled for, dull-teeth." Hiccup retorted.
'Fat-tail.'
"Dumb-lizard."
'Sea-legs.'
"Useless reptile."
'Hairy-no-brainer.'
"Soft-egg."
'Hey!' Toothless decided that that was the last one he would put up with and ended it by licking Hiccup upside the head, repeatedly. 'No one calls me soft-egg!'
"Stop! Ugh!" Hiccup complained, trying desperately to get the slobber off. "You know that doesn't wash out!"
'Take that, fur-head.'
It was exactly one moon since Akey had shown up for the first time on the edge. Which meant it was full-moon again. Toothless was sitting in the dragon-woodcaves aka the stables, with Hiccup next to him. Akey was curled up against the wall in front of them, dreading what would happen the moment the full-moon rose above the ocean. Again. Just like every time since whatever had been his birth. He could already feel the familiar tingles running through his small body, the spines on his back shifting slightly.
It was rising.
He moaned not just with pain but with the thought that he might hurt Hiccup again. Toothless knew what was happening, and wrapped his tail around Hiccup.
"Hey, Akey... I don't know if it would stop it, but you could still come over here and-" Hiccup mumbled.
"N-no." Akey mumbled. "It won't." He shuddered. His shoulders tingled with the wings that would shoot out any moment, his hips ached with an invisible tail. "I might was w-well just get r-ready for it."
Toothless was thinking back to last time he had seen it. Akey had very suddenly grown to what seemed twice his size, wings, tail, everything. He had ceased to be Akey. The monster he transformed into had attacked Toothless blindly, screeching like nothing the Night Fury had ever heard. Not dragon, not human. No regular creature. Even smaller than Toothless, the dragon had to pull out everything he knew to defend himself from the fierce little monster.
Akey had left a few claw-marks on his underbelly that could have been more serious, had he not moved over a few claw-widths. He had only just managed to fend the creature off. After that, Akey had ran off to the rest of the Edge, causing serious damage and havoc, startling the other dragons, injuring anything he saw.
He was a real threat.
Toothless was not going to let him near Hiccup this time. Hiccup wanted just the opposite. He wanted Akey close. He wanted to help the boy. Hiccup wanted to hug him close, keep him from changing, tell him it was going to be alright.
But there was nothing he could do, and he knew it. No chains, no ropes, no bars or cell, he thought, could hold Akey in his transformed state. They would just have to brace themselves for the storm. If it had been up to Heather, Akey would be left on a deserted island for the night.
But not on my watch, Hiccup thought.
I won't let anyone abandon you.
Akey suddenly reared up in agony, a sudden transformation out of nightmares happening right in front of Hiccup. Akey went from a smallish boy with slightly odd features to that nightmare creature Hiccup had hoped never to deal with again.
Please let this go okay.
Please let me help him.
He moved toward Akey, ignoring Toothless' snarling. He held out a paw to the boy. Akey turned to face him, snarling. Sharp fangs bared, pupils narrowed to slits. Nostrils flared, a slight purplish hue in his throat. A slight drool on those fangs. Akey sounded more horrifying than Toothless on his worst day.
"It's me, Akey. It's Hiccup. Remember? You know me, buddy." Hiccup held the paw closer. "Remember? C'mon-" Akey reared up, and if he could possibly get any scarier, he just had. He was taller than Hiccup in this form, and easily able to kill the haddock. Hiccup knew that. "C'mon." Hiccup inwardly smacked himself. Maybe dragonese would reach Akey better. He cleared his throat.
'Key? Be calmer much please, it is friend...'
'What in the great sky above are you doing?' Toothless barked softly. 'He won't understand you.'
Hiccup ignored him and inched ever closer to Akey.
'Please to be calmer, key, now is okay. Listen to me. I will not be harming you. No one will be harming you. Listen to me, listen.' Hiccup hoped Akey could understand. Akey hadn't moved, he still looked ready to leap at Hiccup and tear his throat out with one terrible and deadly swipe. 'You are not monster. You are good friend. You want not to harm me. You know this, key, please, please listen, hear me, I plead you. Come to here. Come to friend.'
Akey still did not move. Nothing seemed to resonate with him. Hiccup made one last attempt, reaching out with a paw. He couldn't mess this up, he had to do it right. He only had one chance. Akey could attack at any moment.
Please.
He took a deep breath and reached out more, shaking. He forced himself to hold still, holding his paw out in a familiar way. After gazing meaningfully into Akey's eyes, he turned away. He closed his eyes. He put trust into Akey, the same trust that he did for Toothless in the cove. It had always worked before. It would work now.
Akey didn't move. He stared, eyes glinting at the outstretched paw. Toothless held his breath, already nervous. He knew Hiccup was gutsy. This wasn't going to work, what was he doing? Akey couldn't understand this right now. Akey was a monster right now. Trust wasn't in his mind. Killing was. All it would take was one moment, one spring, one claw- He forced himself to breathe. He had to trust Hiccup too. Maybe it would work. Maybe.
Akey's eyes flitted from Hiccup's paw to his neck. Toothless tensed.
No, no, no-
Akey leaped. He sprung with such brutal, sudden force, that Toothless didn't have time to react. In one heartbeat, Akey was on Hiccup. Cruel teeth met soft neck skin. Hiccup let out a strangled yelp of pain as Akey bit him, hard. Akey clamped his jaws on his victim's neck. Fortunately, Akey couldn't reach his spine. But his throat was less than lucky. Toothless smacked the monster off his friend with a powerful paw, and then placed himself over Hiccup, snarling in the way of don't-put-one-more-claw-on-my-friend-or-I-swear-I-will-make-your-last-moments-alive-excruciatingly-painful.
Akey stared for a moment, snarling, blood dripping from his fangs. Hiccup's blood. Toothless hissed and built up fire in his throat as a warning. The creature decided not to press his luck, turning and dashing full pelt out of the stables. Toothless waited for a heartbeat, then looked down at his friend. There was a nasty, very deep bite mark on Hiccup's neck. The teen was struggling to breathe, letting out weak coughs. Toothless whined and began to lick the wound as gently as he could. The taste of blood made him want to gag, but he forced it down and concentrated on helping Hiccup. To his dismay, Hiccup's breathing seemed to be getting weaker.
'No, c'mon, breathe-'
Hiccup began to go still, and Toothless, continuing to lick, pressed a paw against his chest, hoping that there was still some movement. Sure enough, Hiccup's heart was still beating. Toothless looked his friend's neck over. There wasn't much more he could do. The bleeding had all but stopped, but the damage to Hiccup's neck had been done. Toothless had to hope Akey's jaw didn't get stronger in his transformation, because then the monster would have had no trouble crushing Hiccup's windpipe. Akey had never bitten him, so he didn't know. The best clue he had was that Hiccup was breathing, albeit weakly.
He curled himself around Hiccup's limp form, draping his tail over Hiccup's hind-legs and folding a wing over him. Toothless put his head close to Hiccup's, every once in a while licking Hiccup's head-fur. He checked Hiccup's breathing periodically, and Hiccup was still going every time he checked, although it didn't stop him from being terrified that every weak breath would be his best friend's last.
Another fear he had was that Hiccup's lungs were filling with blood, but that didn't seem to be the case. Toothless stayed alert, focusing on Hiccup.
'I'm not going to lose you.' He sniffed softly, his breath ruffling Hiccup's head-fur. 'Don't you dare leave me.'
A moment later, Astrid entered the stable and saw Hiccup. She ran toward him, and Toothless lifted his wing so she could see him. Astrid gasped when she saw his neck, unsure what to do for a moment. Then she reached out and gently pushed a strand of his hair away from his face. At her touch, he began to move, and his eyes fluttered.
"Astrid?" He croaked.
"Right here." She said firmly, smiling weakly. "How do you feel? What happened?"
"Akey-" Hiccup broke off into a series of coughs. Toothless winced and gently nudged Hiccup with his nose. "I'm fine, bud. It's Akey, we need to-"
Astrid put a finger over his lips.
"It's okay. We managed to catch him. He didn't kill or injure anyone this time. It'll be okay." She gently grabbed his paw. "Let's get you some help, okay?" Hiccup smiled weakly at her.
"It's not his fault. He's a good kid. He'd never hurt me or any of us." Hiccup wheezed and began to cough again. Astrid smiled weakly. "I'll get through to him, let me up-" Toothless was not going to let his rider up. He placed a firm paw on Hiccup.
'Nope. Stay down. Akey will transform back at moon-set. He'll be fine until then. Just ask Astrid where he is.'
Hiccup turned to Astrid. "Where is he? How'd you-"
"We used a small amount of dragon root. It was Fishlegs' idea, although he didn't like it, nothing else was working. We put him in one of the dragon-proof cages we got off the hunters. He'll be fine until he turns back. For now, let's get you resting." Astrid helped her boyfriend onto Toothless' back and they took the injured, exhausted Hiccup somewhere better to rest than a hardwood floor.
