The Night Fury, now going by the name Toothless, woke up, peeked under his wing, and nuzzled at his side only to find it empty. He quickly became defensive until he saw his submissive lying in his own nest, still unconscious but safe. Toothless walks over and softly nuzzles his beloved, "Please, my Hiccup, please wake up soon." He whimpers softly, sounding uneasy; his toxic green orbs shine with love but also sadness as he goes down and sniffs at the teen's amputated leg. He unwraps it and proceeds to clean the wound again. He finishes his work just as a head pops up from the hole within his mate's den, and Toothless growls, and his eyes slit as he stands protectively near his vulnerable mate until he sees the healer.
Stoick and Gobber follow Gohti, but all stand met with a snarling Night Fury. "It's ok; we just want to check over his injuries," Gobber explains calmly to the protective, dominant mate.
The snarling dragon eyes all of the humans with suspension and motions for Gothi and Gobber to begin taking care of his submissive but bares his sharp canines at Stoick, a warning of 'I won't have you hurt him anymore.' He approaches Hiccup's head and watches with sharp eyes as Gobber and Gothi undress his mate to tend to the less severe wounds. However, he hears Hiccup's sire take in a sharp breath, and an audible gasp comes from the older blacksmith as Toothless looks where the two grown men see Hiccup's entire frame riddled with scars from head to his leg, including the healed ones on his wrists.
"Oh my Thor, when did all those happen?" Stoick gasped with wide-eyed pupils as he heard the dragon's growls grow in volume and watched as the healer applied ointment to the burns and wrapped up Hiccup's abdomen where a large bruise had formed from being slammed into the saddle before he fell. A small groan of pain escaped Hiccup's lips, and Toothless snarled at the elderly healer for hurting his love, but she held her hand out as a sign of 'no threat.'
Gothi finished the procedure and placed Hiccup's clothes back on him with help from Gobber for the pants, then wrote on the dust floor, "These scars are from all the times either you or anyone in the village belittled him and made him feel like the only escape was through self-harm. This has been going on since he was six years old. It began after you ordered his memories to be sealed, and he felt completely alone." Gobber recites as he sees the older woman glaring at Stoick but also hears the snarls of the dragon getting louder.
"Oh, Hiccup, my son, what have I done?" Stoick weeps, his voice, which is usually harsh and authoritative, now apologetic and shaky as he remembers each scar on his son's bruised-up and scarred-up body. His eyes quickly fill with tears, and he recalls every time he made Hiccup feel that way as he felt the guilt pile in his gut.
Deciding that his mate has had enough attention, he makes toothless motions for the humans to leave so he can be alone with his beloved. He wanted to be the first thing Hiccup saw when he woke. Gothi nods and leaves with Stoick, who is still quite upset, right behind her. Gobber follows suit but pauses; quite a few people would like to see Hiccup out here." He announced, and Toothless simply grunted in acknowledgment and draped his wing over his mate's comatose form. Nodding, the peg-legged Viking goes down the steps, understanding the message clearly: No.
After Dark
After spending the day watching over his beloved, Toothless gets ready to sleep only to see Meatlug and another gronkle, whom he can assume is her mate, hovering near the window. "My Alpha, how is the queen?" Her mate asked gently, with his head bowed.
"He's still unconscious but safe. Wait, Alpha, Queen? I'm not the Alpha, and Hiccup isn't a queen. What do you mean?" The confused dragon asked, entirely baffled by the titles.
Meatlug came forward. "If you could come out here, we will explain everything."
Toothless looked at his love and sighed, not wanting to leave in case Hiccup woke up but knowing this was an important matter and, for the moment, Hiccup was safe. He carefully uncurls himself from his beloved and kisses his forehead, "I'll be right back, my love." He promises as he climbs out the window and drops onto the ground, only to be met with the entire flock that came to Berk as they all bow to him. "Ok, what is the reason why you have decided to start calling me Alpha and even more so my mate Queen?" He asked as his back fins glowed blue.
Stormfly stepped forward and lowered her head in submission. "It's because you defeated the Red Death and as such, earned her title as Alpha. And as for Hiccup being named Queen, because he's your mate, that's why he's named Queen. Your back fins are also glowing blue Hakken; sorry, I mean Alpha."
The new Alpha looks behind him and notices the blue glow. "I believe it was a group effort that defeated The Red Death, but if you desire for me to be your Alpha, then I promise to be a fair but firm Alpha." He agrees, and growls of approval meet his ears.
"Alpha, if I may ask, why does the queen stay in a human's den?" A blue Zippleback asks with curiosity, not knowing said Queen was a human.
Toothless eyes, the two-headed dragon in confusion before Hookfang leans down and whispers, "Not all of them know he isn't a dragon." The black dragon nods.
"My mate's name is Hiccup, and no, he's not a dragon; he's a human." The black dragon explains as he hears some of the dragon's growls.
"I don't want to follow a human; they're nothing but monsters who kill without cause. They're worse than the Red Death." A green nightmare snarled as he flamed up, his green eyes showing absolute hatred for the humans.
The arena dragons growl at the insult and charge the Nightmare but cease when Toothless roars and his fins glow a bit brighter. "That's enough; stand down!" If you want me as your Alpha, you must have Hiccup as your Queen. I'm not going to discard my mate just to appeal to you; if you can't accept him, then you can't be a part of my flock."
All the dragons exchanged glances, with many unsure of what Hiccup looked like or what kind of person he was. They felt curious about him, especially after hearing the prince speak in his defense. However, some dragons, like the Nightmare, who deeply hated humans, took to the skies without hesitation. They believed the prince had become soft and would endanger himself by being mated to a human.
The Alpha dragon looks at the remaining dragons, the arena dragons, and those with mates. "Thank you. I know we haven't had great experiences with humans, but I can assure you that Hiccup isn't like any humans. He also looks at Hookfang sadly, "I'm sorry, my friend, but Fireclaw was one of the ones to leave. I remember she was a potential mate for you."
The Red male Nightmare shook his head. "It's alright. Hakken, sorry, Alpha, I decided during my time here on Berk that she wasn't the one for me." He shrugs.
Toothless nods, sniffs the air, smells other scents in Hiccup's room, and growls. "Alpha, I believe it's in our best interest to stay in the forest until we become more familiar with humans, " a green and yellow Deadly Nadder suggests.
Toothless isn't paying attention as he tries to distinguish between whose scent he smells and whose growls increase as the slits in his eyes narrow. "Do what you wish, and by the way, my name isn't Hakken anymore; it's Toothless, and it's Alpha to you." He growled and quickly took off towards the chief's house.
Back in Hiccup's room, Stoick leads Astrid and Fishlegs up through the hole. They notice that the dragon is nowhere to be seen, but Hiccup is unmoving and knocked out. "Is he going to be ok?" Astrid asked as she grabbed one of Hiccup's hands.
"Gothi says he's just in a coma, and he'll come out of it on his own. Did either of you know about him cutting himself?" Stoick asked, holding back a choked sob as he brought out the knife he had found the day before. The one Hiccup had been using as a means of coping. His green eyes pooled with tears at the images of his offspring using this on his flesh.
"No, " they both said as the chief lifted Hiccup's shirt, and the teens saw the scars. Astrid tries but fails to look at the precise muscles that have formed over the last few weeks, though Hiccup still looks scrawny as she gasps, looking through teary eyes at all the scars. Their observations stand halted when an angry, protective night fury jumps into the room via the window, snarling at them all and telling them to back off.
Stoick holds his ground, "Hakken, right? They wanted to come see Hiccup, so please calm down." He says as if it's no big deal and stands met with a loud snarl. It was tense for a few moments before Gobber came up, panting.
"Stoick, dragons are coming from the forest, but they're not attacking."
"That must be our dragons. Metalug! Fishlegs yelled as he ran down the steps, out the door, and saw the brownish-reddish gronkle. "Meatlug!" He yelled as he rushed towards the gronkle, only to be stopped by a purple and blue male gronkle standing protectively in front of Meatlug. "Oh, um, hi." The husky Viking squeaked as he backed away slowly.
"Rocky, no, that's the human I was telling you about, the one I bonded with." Meatlug protested.
"He was going to attack you." Rocky remarked back.
"No, I believe he was going to do something called a hug. According to the Alpha, it's when humans wrap their forearms around someone they care about. Apparently the Queen has done it a lot with the Alpha." Meatlug coos.
With a warning glare thrown at the hefty Viking, Rocky allows Fishlegs access to his mate. He sees the teen give his mate a paw on the head and a hug, to which Meatlug responds in kind. 'Maybe one day I'll be close to human too.' He thinks to himself.
Hookfang, Stormfly, her mate, and Barf and Belch also clear the forest, followed by the dragons that stayed as Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and Snotlout all ran up and greeted their new dragons. Astrid also came down from the unconscious teen's room and tried to stand by Stormfly; however, Eargon growled and kept the shield maiden away, smelling her anger. "Odin's Ghosts Gobber, why are all these dragons here, and why are those allowing the twins and my nephew to pet them?" Stoick wondered as he was the last one down.
"It's almost as if the dragons are waiting for something or they're here for someone, but they're not attacking us." Gobber marveled as he looked and noticed most of the dragons were tense but, for the most part, staying out of trouble. "It's almost peaceful."
In those words, Stoick remembers Gothi's prophecy: 'A boy shall die only to be revived with the soul of a dragon, and together with the 'True Alpha' shall peace come.' 'No, Hiccup,' Stoick thought as a lone tear fell from his eyes, not wanting it to be true.
A week later (mid-morning)
Toothless cooed as he lightly nuzzled his still-unconscious mate's collarbone. It's been a week since the battle of the Red Death, and Hiccup still shows no sign of waking up, and the worry is beginning to settle into the Night Fury. He observed that the color of Hiccup's skin looked more normal and stood not nearly covered in sweat like the first night.
Over the past week, the new Alpha rarely left Hiccup's side, only doing so to handle his new Alpha duties as he realized that the dragons were beginning to get ready for the mating season; even a few dragons, such as Meatlug, were already pregnant with eggs. Food was often brought up to the black dragon, usually by either Gobber or, on the rare occasion, Hiccup's younger cousins. Toothless was curious about them but didn't allow the tiny humans near his mate.
Unfortunately, when Toothless had to deal with the dragons, he had to leave Hiccup alone, but the humans would often come by and stay until Toothless shooed them out. Unfortunately, Toothless didn't get a choice of who came to stay with his mate, and it was usually Stoick or Gobber. Sometimes, Snotlout or the twins, to which Toothless was quick to get rid of all of them as soon as he returned. Astrid came also, and Toothless would often smell her scent on Hiccup's head or shoulder, which would anger him to no end. Fishlegs was ok, but the Night Fury didn't particularly trust any of these humans with his little human.
As he goes down and checks over the missing limb, which now has a metal leg attached, curious about Gobber, Toothless looks at his missing limb and smiles. "We match now, my love; please wake up soon, my Hiccup. I miss you so much." He coos as his half-lidded eyes travel to his love's peaceful face. He walks back up and plants a delicate kiss on his lover's lips.
Unbeknownst to the Night Fury, Hiccup was waking up, not in the real world but in his subconscious. "Where am I?" he asks, looking around frantically. He sees nothing but darkness until a little ball of light flies around, followed by another. Eventually, the young boy is surrounded by multiple small white balls until they take shape as night furies. "Hakken?" he asks, confusion blossoming in his voice as relief danced in his eyes.
"No, but we know of the prince." A disembodied voice sounded like a female. It spoke from the dragon spirit. "We were brought to the nest along with the prince, but unfortunately, we were killed by her servant, The Skrill."
"A Skrill!" Hiccup gasped with a wide-eyed expression, surprised that a Skrill lived in the nest. "Wait, you're Night Furies, so are you related to Hakken somehow?"
All the spirit dragons' heads shake no. "We were tasked with protecting the prince, and we did, but unfortunately we weren't able to stop the Red Death from sealing away the prince's memories." Another spirit growled that the human immediately picked out as male.
"What happened to Hakken? Where did he come from? Did he have parents?" Hiccup fired off each question, fascinated but also a little sad for what his mate endured.
"He did have a sire and dam, but unfortunately they too fell to the Red Death when the prince was just a hatchling. As for what happened to him or where his origins lie, all we are allowed to tell you is that The Red Death was fearful of Prince Hakken and tried to seal away his powers along with his memories." The first voice spoke vaguely.
"He has grown into such a smart and powerful dragon, and he seems to have found himself an equally smart and powerful submissive as well." A female spirit spoke despite Hiccup's blushing at the comments.
You should probably wake up now in the real world; he seems very worried about you. Take care, young Hiccup; I'm sure we'll meet again someday." The lead spirit cooed as she disappeared along with the other spirits, and a bright light enveloped Hiccup.
A lone groan catches Toothless's attention, and he looks down at his submissive's face as he sees a freckled face scrunch up. "Hiccup, my love?" He coos as he leans down, his hot breath covering Hiccup's face as forest-green eyes finally open.
"Hey, Hakken." Hiccup whispered happily as the night fury became excited and began to nuzzle the auburn heir but accidentally stepped on the teen's abdomen. "Ow." The teen yelped, and the black dragon quickly calmed himself.
"I'm so sorry, my submissive I'm just so happy to have you awake and safe." Toothless apologized.
"I understand, Hakken; wait, you're at my house. Does Stoick know you're here? Quick, you need to hide Hakken!" Hiccup began to panic but stood soothed by his mate's body curling around him.
"Calm my submissive, Firstly, my name isn't Hakken anymore. I've decided the past is the past, and I decided to take the name you gave me. Second, yes, your sire knows I'm here, but don't worry, Hiccup; he has done no harm to me."
Hiccup's calm features turn to resentment at the mention of his father. He tries to get up but feels something off with his leg. He pulls the cover off and gasps as he sees his left leg replaced with a prosthetic one. "What happened to my leg?" he asks in horror.
Toothless looks down in shame. "I'm truly sorry, my love, but it was the only way I could catch you and bring you close to me to save you from the fire." Believe me, Hiccup, I would have done it instantly if there had been another way.
The dragon's submissive looks at the leg and takes deep breaths before speaking, "Well, I guess we match; it might take a while to get used to, but I can live with it." He smiles as he tries to get out of bed, and Toothless is standing nearby now. With both feet on the floor, Hiccup stands up, holding the bed frame for support, and takes a tentative step and then another, only to start falling, but Toothless quickly gets underneath him and catches him using his head as a support.
"It will definitely take a good while for you to become used to this new leg; until then, I'll be happy to carry you, my love." Toothless offers.
Hiccup blushed but nodded, feeling his best as he walked to the door with the human leaning on the dragon for support. Opening the door, he stood greeted by a monstrous nightmare outside. Quickly, he slammed the door shut. "Toothless, stay here," he instructed his mate, only for Toothless to grab him by the waist and place him on the dragon's back.
"You can walk later, but I'd rather not see you get hurt anymore, especially after I just got you back," Toothless explains gently as the black dragon motions for Hiccup to open the door again. As the human settles on the black dragon's back, he once again opens; the dragon walks out with the sunshine greeting them and many dragons littering the streets of Berk. Only Hookfang, Barf and Belch, and Meatlug had their riders on them. Some Vikings tolerated the dragons, but most didn't, and they stayed quiet and grumbled.
"I knew it; I'm dead." Hiccup gasped, only for a large hand to land on his shoulders.
"Ha, ha, no, but you gave it your best shot." Stoick's booming voice came from beside the mates. It was a sight. He said before becoming serious, "Hiccup, I'm sorry."
Hiccup roughly pushes the chief's hand off him and glares at his 'father, his normally peaceful face now twisted in an angry scowl.' "Sorry for not listening to me, sorry for taking my mate away twice. Sorry for disowning me, or sorry for sealing my memories away and then lying to me." He growls, which triggers Toothless's anger as well.
"I thought I was doing what was best for you then, son. And I was angry when I disowned you, but now I was wrong. Please, Hiccup, can you forgive me?" Stoick pleads, going to try and grab his son's hand, only for the Night Fury to snarl until he takes the hand back.
"Last time I checked, I wasn't your son, and it's going to take more than one apology for me to even think about forgiving you." Hiccup momentarily looks up at the sky as an idea comes to mind: "Since it's not a deadly winter yet, I'm staying in the Cove with Toothless until either you show me that you're willing to change or when bad winter comes."
"What will you do for food or supplies? What about shelter?" Gobber asked, coming up beside his best friend, who was in a state of shock.
"There's a cave in the cove, and I'll come to town every once in a while for food and supplies." Hiccup responded as he noticed the large bundle in Gobber's hands. "What's in your hand, Gobber?"
The elder blacksmith shifted the object as he revealed Toothless's saddle and tail. "I found your designs and decided to make you a new saddle and tail just like your leg. With a little Hiccup, flair added to it." How did you do walking with the new leg?"
"Eh, I might make a few tweaks, and I took a step but almost fell, so that's why I'm on Toothless's back."
"Let's go meet our subjects. Hiccup, one of the big changes that happened while you were in your coma was that I was named the Alpha by my fellow dragon." Toothless says as he begins walking to the forest. Most of the dragons, including the ones with riders, follow their new leaders only after forcing the humans off their backs.
"You what!" You're the Alpha now!" Hiccup yelled in shock as he looked behind and saw all the dragons following them. He also looks around and sees various holes in caves or even some in the hills and mountainsides. "What are those holes for?" he asked.
"Those are dragon dens; our followers are building their new homes." Toothless explains as he reaches the same clearing he woke up in a week ago.
"My Alpha, my queen, you're awake, thank goodness." Hookfang acknowledged as he and the rest of the flock bowed to Hiccup and Toothless.
"Queen, he doesn't mean me, right?" Hiccup points at himself, looking at his dominant mate with a hint of uncertainty.
"Yes, he does my love; you're my mate, and as I'm the Alpha of the flock, that makes you the Queen. Are you ok with this Hiccup?" Toothless asked, looking back at his human.
"It's a lot to take in, but I don't know if I'll be a good queen." Hiccup admits looking down.
"My Alpha, if I may address the Queen?" Eragon squawked, looking at the black dragon.
Toothless nods as the nadder looks at Hiccup. Greetings, my Queen. My name is Eragon, and my mate is Stormfly. First, I would like to thank you for treating her well, even with small gestures. Also, I can't speak for the flock, but you'll be a great queen for my mate and me and any future hatchlings we may have. You see us as beings, not killers, and you defeated the Red Death. And most importantly, you spared the Alpha, and it's evident that your love for one another is strong. We'll protect you and treat you with the respect you deserve."
Hiccup sits on his mate's back in shock as the rest of the flock agrees with the male nadder. He feels his mate's tail brush against his side. "See, my love, you have the support of everyone here; there are even a few dragons with riders already. And most important, you have me, and I'll always be with you."
Knowing which dragons have riders and looking around at all the dragons who have sworn their loyalty to him, Hiccup smiles, leans down, and kisses his dominant mate's head. "I need to show the village that you guys aren't what they think you are. It won't be easy, but I believe it's possible." While he doesn't know what the future holds, he knows he can accomplish his goals with his dragons and his dominant mate.
Standing outside, on the top of her hut, Gothi writes in the dirt on the floor, "Human and Alpha dragon have joined together; now is the time for them to begin their destiny."
The End