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Chapter Text

It was dark. Dark and cold. But that's the way that he liked it. It was better than the Nest by any means. The black dragon glided through the air behind the pack of dragons on silent wings. Another night, another raid. All to get food for a tyrant. The island was nearing. He could see the humans getting ready for the raid as well. It was a fun little game they played with the dragons, thinking they could stop them from getting food. Nevermind that it was life or death for the dragons. Silly little humans. The black dragon hung back behind, waiting for the signal. Then he could come in and distract the humans while everyone else got food. There! The dragon cupped his wings and dove for a tall structure, building fire power as he went.

"NIGHT FURY!!" "GET DOWN!"

BOOM. The catapult went up in flames. The dragon flew to another building. Honestly, the humans make it so easy sometimes. BOOM! Another building exploded. This was getting easier and easier. He might even had time to get his own sheep instead of borrowing some from that Nadder-

His wings were suddenly pressed tight against his body and the dragon plummeted to the ground. The dragon tried despertly to free his wings and let out a scream of frustration when he couldn't. He tore through the trees, ripping out branches and turning up dirt with his body. The dragon landed somewhere, but when he tried to push himself to his feet, he realized what had pulled his wings to his body. Rope. It was a net. Some human had finally managed to throw a net on him and now was looking for him. The dragon screamed again. How stupid was he. If that Zippleback was here, he would be laughing his heads off. He, the Night Fury, got stuck in a simple human net. Once he got out of this net, that whole village would pay!

The black dragon woke up with a start. Someone was coming.

"I did it? I- I did it! Yes! I have brought down this mighty beast-" OK that was enough. The dragon twitch his ear and the human jumped back in terror. He was smaller then the normal humans, kind of skinny. But this was the human who shot him down. He could smell it. The human inched closer, holding out a knife. He seemed to be... resolving himself to kill him.

"Don't you DARE." The dragon growled. The human, of course, ignored him.

"I'm going to kill you, dragon. I'm going to take out your heart and give it to my father. I'm a viking. I'M A VIKING!" The human took a deep breath and held up his knife.

"Oh please don't." The dragon begged. "I'm just trying to survive."

The human looked at the dragon like he was considering it. The dragon, knew however, that the human wouldn't spare him. He wouldn't spare the human, why should the human spare him. What a pathetic way to die. Killed by a fishbone with a knife. The dragon let his head fall to the ground. It was better then being eaten, he supposed. Then the unthinkable happened. The dragon's eyes flew open as he heard the swishing of a knife against rope. The ropes fell away, he was free.

He pounced on the human. This pathetic human shot him with a net, he made him late and the queen wasn't going to like that. Maybe if he brought this little twig with him, then she'll forgive him.

But... The dragon looked into the human's eyes. He was scared. He mentioned a father, maybe his father was forcing him to do this. It was a long shot, but...

"NEXT TIME I WON'T BE MERCIFUL." He yelled at the human, being extra loud so he knew that he meant it. He turned and jumped up into the air to fly away. But he dropped to the ground like last night. He was aware of his missing tail fin then. The dragon dropped into a nearby cove. Why did he let that human escape? The dragon tried to climb up the walls up the cove, but dropped to the ground. This was going to be a long day.

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The dragon jumped and flapped all day and all night. He could see them, the other dragons. Flying overhead, blissfully unaware that their distraction was stuck in a hole. He collapsed from exhaustion early the next day. When he woke up the sun was high in the sky and the birds were singing happily. The dragon wanted to kill those birds. He got to work and figured out fairly quickly that it was no easier to escape today than it was yesterday.

Jump, flap, fall. Rinse and repeat. It was the same. As he crashed for the hundredth time, he looked to the pond. Fish swimming to and fro the clear water. The dragon crept closer and attempted to catch one. No such luck. He sighed. Was this how he was supposed to spend his days? Getting bruised and starved in a cove. It was a very nice cove, but the dragon was in no mood to appreciate the beauty. If only that human didn't shoot him. Then he would be at the Nest, resting up for the next raid-

There was a sound and the dragon's head snapped up. There he was. He was back and the dragon had to escape before the human's friends caught him and-

He was alone. The human was alone. The dragon tilted his head curiously. Why didn't he bring help? The human jumped up and ran off. Maybe he was showing the dragon a way out! The dragon pushed himself to his feet and tried to follow the human. But the place he was at was too high.

"Oh no you don't! Now that I know that there's a way out, I'm not giving up!"

He gave up. The dragon was hungry, tired, and getting really frustrated. But mostly hungry. He had spent most of the day and night trying to get to that ledge that he saw the human on and failing. Miserably. It was now late afternoon and he was loosing hope. He was currently laying down on a large rock, soaking up the setting sun's rays. At first he though that it would be a good boost, but that idea had ended when he landed in the pond. Now the fish wouldn't come up so that he could attempt to catch his supper.

His ears picked up a sound coming from a crack that the dragon had found earlier, but couldn't fit into. He crouched and went into hunting mode. Maybe it was a rabbit.

It wasn't a rabbit. Of course it wasn't. It was that little human. And he had a fish. It was not enough to satisfy his hunger, but it would do. The dragon jumped down from the rock and prowled closer to the human. The human jumped back, clutching the fish to his chest. The dragon sniffed, that fish smelled so good. He hadn't eaten in days...

Metal.

"Wait this is a trick, isn't it?" The dragon pulled back. "Don't think I'm dumb enough to fall for that."

The human jumped away and drew back his outer skin to reveal a dagger in his belt. He put his hand on the handle. "Don't you dare!" The dragon hissed. The human quickly took his hand off. He slowly took the dagger out and dropped it on the ground.

"Yes, now throw it in the pond..."

The human balanced the dagger on his foot and threw it in the pond. The dragon waited until it was safely sunk and with the fishes before relaxing. "Very well. No one dies today."

The human gave him a wary look but offered the fish anyway.

The dragon retracted his teeth so not to hurt the human and inched closer with his mouth open so the human could place the fish in it.

"Huh, toothless. I could've sworn you had-" The dragon got impatient and just snatched the fish out of the human's hands. "...Teeth."

The dragon moved closer, maybe he had more? The human backed away into a rock. "No no no, I-i don't have anymore." Oh. Did he give it all to me? "I supposed i could be nice..." The dragon mussed and regurgitated half of the fish onto the lap of the human.

"Erg." The human looked up at the dragon uncertainly. Maybe he doesn't know how to eat. That would explain why he's so skinny. The dragon looked at the fish with a pointed look then back at the human again. The human repeated the action, sighed, and picked up the fish. He held it up to his mouth and chomped down.

"Yes, now swallow." The dragon swallowed to show him how it was done.

The human widened his eyes in an expression that the dragon couldn't name. Human faces were so weird. The human swallowed, and put his hand up to his mouth to keep it down.

"Did you get it all down?" The dragon asked.

The human widened his mouth, showing that he did in fact, get it all down. The dragon tilted his head. What was he doing? Was this how humans show pleasure? The dragon tried to copy it, showing that the human did good.

The human widened his eyes again, (he should stop doing that, he'll turn into an owl) and reached out to touch the dragon. The dragon, however, was having none of that, and growled before flying away.

He made a quick nest and went to sleep. There was a twittering and the dragon looked up to see a sparrow fly away. "Lucky bird." He looked down to see the human sitting there. "Really?" The human gave the dragon a little wave, and the dragon moved his tail to block the sight. The dragon flipped up his tail to see if the human had gotten the hint. He did not. In fact it looked like he was trying to touch the dragon, again. Thankfully, he had the decency to be embarassed and jumped up to walk away. The dragon, tired of this game, went to a tree to sleep in a tree instead.

When the dragon woke up again ten minutes later, the human was still here. He was siting on a rock and using a stick for something. The dragon jumped to the ground and walked over to see what the human was doing. The human was drawing him. The dragon let out a purr of delight and watched the human for a moment before padding off to grab a stick. When he came back to where the picture was, the human was giving him a weird look.

"Look! I'm drawing you! There's your nose, and your ear, and that's your eye!" The dragon moved the branch around drawing a perfect replica of the human's face. The human stood up and tried to walk out of the drawing but ended up stepping on it.

"Don't touch it!" The dragon growled. The human lifted his foot immediately and the dragon purred. "Yes lik- I SAID DON'T- Yeah just like that." The human put his foot on the picture several times, testing the dragon's patience. Finally, he caught on that the dragon didn't like his foot on the drawing and stepped around the lines. He kept his gaze on the ground, trying to not step on the picture so he didn't notice that he was moving closer and closer to the dragon. But the dragon did. And when the human stopped, the dragon huffed into his fur.

The human froze, and dared to look around at the dragon. "I might not kill you now." The dragon decided. The human hesitated and reached out his hand to touch the dragon. "Stop." The dragon growled, and the human stopped. He took a deep breath, and turned so that he wasn't facing the dragon, and held out his hand again. "Is this another human thing you do?" The the dragon reached out with his nose, but stopped at the last second. This wasn't a good idea. If anyone else saw this, they would be cheering for the dragon to kill him. But no one else was here. It was just him and the human. The dragon touched his nose to the human's palm. They stayed like that for one, two, three seconds before the dragon pulled his snout away and ran off to hide.

Chapter Text

The little human left soon after. Good. The dragon didn't need any help. Certainly not from a fishbone like that. And if he missed the fishbone's company, well that was no ones business. As he went to sleep that night, listening to his fellow dragons getting slaughtered, he wondered what had possessed the human to come back. It certainly wasn't the dragon's charming personality. Maybe he felt bad. No, humans don't have emotions, it couldn't be that. Perhaps he was crazy. OK, he was most definitely crazy. Why else would he keep coming back to a dragon who was three times his size? Not that the dragon was complaining. If the human kept coming back with more fish, then maybe he could build up his strength and get out of this cursed hole. Whatever the human did beyond that was none of his concern. And so the dragon fell asleep hoping that the human would continue to be crazy and keep visiting the dragon. And not because the dragon wanted his company.

"Hey Toothless!" The human came back the next morning with a large basket that he could barely carry and some strange looking log. "I got some breakfast," he put down the basket with a grunt, "I hope you're hungry." A mound of fresh fish spilled out and the dragon's ears perked up. The dragon tuned out the human as he inspected what he brought. There was a weird smell...

"And a whole, smoked eel." Wait, what?

The dragon growled. The human picked up the eel with one hand and the dragon hissed and stumbled back.

"NO NO NO!" The human threw the eel in the pond and wiped his hand on his shirt. "Yeah, eels aren't my favorite either..."

"Well hopefully you brought SOMETHING edible." The dragon huffed. "Ooo! Salmon! Finally something that won't kill me." The dragon grabbed the fish and swallowed it in one bite. This was really good. When did the human catch all this? There was something cold near his missing fin and the dragon shifted his tail. There was some grumbling from the human and the cold was back. Honestly what was he up too? The human managed to pin the tail down and the dragon decided it wasn't worth the effort.

Soon the basket was empty and the dragon turned his attention to what the human was doing. There was weight back where his missing fin was, and some weird pressure. The dragon wiggled his tail experimentally. It was familiar if cold and...

He was fixing it.

The dragon's face dropped. The human was fixing his tail. "If this doesn't work I will eat you." The dragon slowly spread his wings. And crouched. And took off.

It worked! He was going up! And he was falling. "HUMAN I WILL NEVER FORGI-" Suddenly he was going up again! He flew over the cove. Oh the wind has never felt so good! The sun was warm on his scales and the air had the taste of freedom on it.

"YES!!! NEVER AGAIN!!" The dragon roared. He was never going back to that cove again. Maybe he would find some place away from the Queen's call. Now he could fly again, he wasn't going to stay in one place. No, he was going to explore like he always wanted to.

"YES. YES I DID IT!" The dragon looked behind him. The little human was on his tail still. "Stupid human." The dragon turned sharply, throwing the human into the water. Unfortunately, as soon as he did, the tail folded into itself and no matter how hard the dragon tried it wouldn't open again. He crashed into the water about ten feet away from the human. The human was jumping up and down in the shallow water, cheering for himself. The dragon grumbled and trudged to the shore. When he passed the human he splashed his tail into the water, soaking him. The human squeaked and flailed in the water.

"You've got to be kidding me." The dragon grabbed him by the back of his outer skin and dragged him back to dry land.

The human coughed into his elbow, embarassed. "Yeah, sorry, Toothless."

"Is that what you're calling me?" The dragon huffed. "What am I supposed to call you then? Squirrel?"

The human went over to the dragon's tail and started to take the fake fin off. The dragon flicked his tail. It was nice while it lasted, although he wished the human would make a better one.

"Well Toothless, I should go home now." The human said grudgingly. "Although..." He looked at the dragon hopefully. "Maybe I could stay?"

The dragon thought about it. On the one hand, he didn't want the human's friends to get worried and start looking for him. This human wasn't so bad, but he was sure that the others would kill him on sight. On the other hand, it got pretty lonely and as long as the human didn't do anything stupid like try to ride him again, then maybe he could stay for a while...

"Yeah, you can stay." The dragon wasn't sure how much of that the human understood, but he looked relieved so he must've sensed that the dragon was fine with it. The dragon burned a nest into the ground and curled up into it. The human sat down nearby and pulled out a book that somehow didn't get wet. He started to scratch it with some sort of stick and the dragon wondered if he was drawing again. After a moments consideration, the dragon lit a fire near the human so he could get dry and got a grateful look in response. Great. He was starting to get attached. The dragon shifted so he couldn't see the human and fell asleep

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The dragon (or Toothless as the human called him) found himself waiting for the human everyday. He still tried to escape, but it was more of a way to pass the time then a way to try and get out. The human was plenty more interesting anyway. He brought the fake tail every day with increasingly more complicated parts to it. The dragon stopped trying to make sense of it all after a couple of days. The human tried (and failed) to trick the dragon into letting him put the tail on with out his knowing, but soon figured out that the dragon was having none of that. Still, he did have to chase the dragon around the cove to get it on. But he could fly again. It was only for a couple of hours, and the human was on his back the whole time because he couldn't figure out how to open the tail without him there, but it was flying. And crashing, don't forget about that.

"Are you sure this works?" Toothless asked the human on his back. They were currently stumbling through the air, trying to gain altitude. The human was clinging to his back like a burr, or a annoying flea. A rope was attached to his foot, and he was using it to open the tail with out him being on the tail. It was a good idea, but the human didn't have a good grip to begin with, and with the restrictions, they soon crashed into a field of sweet smelling grass.

"Oh yeah, oh yeah, that feels amazing." Toothless rolled around in the grass, letting the sweet smell dizzy his head and fill his scent glands. "Oh, human lets come here all the time."

"Huh." The human found him. He came as close as he could without being hit with a tail or wing. He picked some of the grass and held it to Toothless' nose, leading him away to cleaner air. Toothless was sad to leave the grass, but maybe the human would bring them back?

Afterward, he did get some scratches which almost made up for it. Almost. The human put the days observations in his little notebook and held up a new design idea to Toothless. He couldn't care less, but he was starting to get the feeling that the little human didn't have as many friends as Toothless once thought he did. So he looked and gave some comments. The human was starting to understand him better, which was good because he had many stupid ideas that Toothless needed to help fix (cough, yell at him, cough) When it was starting to get dark the little human went to the village again and Toothless looked up to the stars.

Some days Toothless and the human just sat in the cove and, did things. The human came up with ideas and studied Toothless, which he pretended not to notice. The human would use one of his tools as a shiny toy for Toothless and those were the best times. When they were both tired and it wasn't time for the human to go home yet, they sat next to each other and the human talked about his other life in the village. It was sad.

"My dad enrolled me into this dragon killing academy that the village has. At first I sucked. A lot. But then you started helping and I'm thinking maybe the village will finally see what I can do, and accept me. I know that they haven't truly accepted me. I was born too early, so I'm too small, too weak, and too much trouble. I'm lucky that Dad wouldn't let them do anything but I'm scared that he might change his mind one day and just... send me off. I try my best, I really do. But my best doesn't give me Astrid's skill, Snotlout's brawn, or even the twin's insanity. And now I'm here talking to a giant reptile."

"This giant reptile just so happens to be listening to you so mark your words, human." Toothless hummed. He wished he could do something about this, but without a way to fly without crashing, he couldn't take Human away. Not yet at least.

"Some days i just wish I could leave with you, Toothless. Leave and see what's out there. But I won't. You're not as bad as they say dragons are, maybe there's other nice dragons too. I just have to convince the other vikings."

"I hope you're right." Toothless sighed.

Once the human used a stump as an anchor to keep the dragon in the air but not flying. It wasn't very satisfying, but at least they weren't crashing. Until the rope snapped that is.

"GAH!" Toothless landed on his back. "OW! That hurt." He flipped over and the human flipped with him.

"Great." The human tugged at the rope that tied them together. He tried to unclip the hook, but it was stuck. Toothless flew them back to the cove, and the human used a tool that he brought to try again. He worked on it until sunset. The human looked up at the darkening sky with a worried expression

"I'm going to have to sneak you into the village to fix this... Try to behave?"

"Of course! You should be worried that the dragon would behave when YOU'RE the one sneaking me in the village of dragon murderers." The human ignored him.

They waited until it was completely dark before they went into the village. The human hopped on Toothless' back and they flew to the outskirts.

"Hmm. No raid. That's good for us i guess." Toothless wondered what mood the Queen was in. He hadn't thought about the queen in days. Was that a good thing?

"OK so here's the plan." The human turned to Toothless. "I make sure that there's no people out there and then you can come out. And ONLY then. I don't care if there's sheep or an interesting box or whatever you dragons like, don't come out until I say so."

"Yes boss." Toothless sniffed the air. Was that a fish? He surged forward, dragging the human with him.

"Toothless!" Toothless looked behind him and smiled. He was getting good at that. "What did i just say?"

"But there's so many interesting things to smell!"

"I know there's lots of interesting smells, but someone could see you." Toothless stopped and let the human take the lead (only getting distracted once or twice) until they got to the smithy.

Toothless' tail wacked into some pot or whatever and they fell with a loud clanky sound.

"Toothless." The human whispered. "Be quiet! Oh here it is!" He got to work disconnecting them.

"Hiccup? Are you there?" The human froze. "Oh no." he mouthed.

Toothless pushed him to the window and the human closed it behind them.

"Astrid! He-hey Astrid."

"Listen, I don't usually care about what people do, but you're acting weird." A female voice floated out to Toothless and he figured that it was the human's crush that he kept talking about. She called him Hiccup. Fitting name.

Sheep! Toothless started forward, forgetting about Hiccup for a moment. He grunted and Toothless decided it was a good time to be off. He grabbed the tool Hiccup picked up earlier and started running off. Hiccup was dragged alone and Toothless stopped long enough for him to climb on and fly away.

Chapter Text

The next day started like normal. Hiccup came in with a basket of fish and waited until Toothless went after it until he got to work. He strung the wires through the metal wheels and around Toothless' body. Toothless for his part only had to finish the basket and possibly cause trouble while Hiccup set everything up. And then they were in the air.

"OK, bud, let's take this nice and slow." Hiccup looked down at his cheat sheet. "Positions 1. No, 4."

"Make up your mind." Toothless rolled his eyes. This was as high as Hiccup had ever been and he was a little nervous. He would be fine, Toothless wouldn't let him fall. Besides there was that rope thingy he had that prevented that from happening. There was a tug on Toothless' tail and he wiggled a little. That was not comfortable.

"OK Toothless, OK, let's do this." Hiccup took a deep breath and Toothless let out a roar of delight as he dived down. They got close enough to the water that his feet touched. Toothless tilted just enough to get his wing tips in as well. They flew under a sea stack and Toothless could feel Hiccup loosen his death grip slightly as he looked around in awe.

"Looks nice, doesn't it?" Toothless took a deep breath, and flew straight into a sea stack.

"Sorry!" And another. "My bad..."

Toothless wacked Hiccup with his ear. "Get it together!"

"Yeah, yeah I'm on it. Position 3. No, 2." Another tug and they started flying up and up.

"Oh this is amazing! The wind in my- CHEAT SHEET!! STOOOOPPPPP!"

"What? Is this too-" Hiccup was floating and Toothless was falling and it wasn't a good situation. Human and dragon started falling to the ground.

"Listen! You- you've got to sort of angle yourself- OW!" Toothless tried angling himself but ended up hitting Hiccup in the face with his tail.

"HICCUP WAKE UP! YOU CANNOT PASS OUT HERE!" Hiccup, thankfully, woke up and reached over to Toothless. Toothless arched his back, trying to get closer. When he felt the tail click, he let out his wings to try and slow them down. "THIS IS TERRIFYING!" Toothless screeched. Soon the sea stacks came into view. Hiccup evidently decided to take control because Toothless felt the unnatural tug and was twisting through the maze of sea stacks with ease. Up, down. Left, right. barrow roll. and they were through.

"YEAH!!!" Hiccup cheered.

"WE DID IT!" Toothless let out a fire ball that exploded. He flew through it and let the fire and smoke chock him for a moment before looking for a place to land.

Two hours later, they were on a rocky beach with a pile of fish for Toothless, and a fire pit for Hiccup. Humans, it turned out, liked to roast their food before eating it which was just bizarre. Well, Hiccup did save them today. Toothless guessed he could eat his fish however he liked.

Their peace was interrupted by a flock of Terrible Terrors. Hiccup looked at the scavenging pests come in with an uncertain expression. He wasn't scared of them, was he? What sort of a creature could pick an eel up without blinking an eye but be scared of Terrors? Toothless growled a warning which they ignored. One came up and tried to steal a fish that Toothless had offered Hiccup but he was quickly taken care of.

"I hate Terrors." Toothless grumbled. A fish stood up in his pile and Toothless was captivated before realizing that it was being stolen. He grabbed the fish and the Terror jumped. There was a short game of tug of war that Toothless won. He ate the fish in one bite. "Sucks to be small, eh?" The Terror was having none of that. She built up a fire that probably would've scared Hiccup, but Toothless was used to this sort of thing in the Nest and just shot into her mouth. The Terror blinked before letting the gas out in one breath. She walked away with a dazed expression and Hiccup took pity on her.

"Not so fireproof on the inside, huh. Here you go." He passed the pest a half-cooked fish. The greedy little thing took it and went to snuggle up to Toothless' human.

Hiccup hesitated before petting her slowly. "Everything we know about you guys... is wrong."

Chapter Text

He was late.

Hiccup was never late. Well, except for once. But other than that, he was never late. Toothless was starting to get worried. He was thinking about trying to get out and finding Hiccup when he heard a noise from the opening Hiccup used. It was that girl, Astrid, the one that Hiccup really liked. Toothless narrowed his eyes but when it was clear she didn't see him, he settled down to wait. Maybe something was happening in the village, he heard some faint cheering earlier, and Hiccup trusted Astrid enough to make sure Toothless was OK. He was sentimental like that sometimes. Toothless didn't feel like interacting with Astrid, though, so he took a nap instead.

"LEAVING!" Toothless opened one eye to see Hiccup walk into the cove. "We're leaving. Pack up, looks like you and me are going on a little vacation... forever." Toothless picked himself up and stretched. He was about to go over to Hiccup but then Hiccup noticed Astrid there.

"Hmm... Maybe I should see how this turns out..." Toothless sat down and watched Hiccup talk to Astrid. He was horrible at courting.

"Wh-what are you doing here..." Oh, Hiccup. Toothless could smell how nervous he was but didn't come out quite yet.

"I wanna know what's going on." Astrid got off the rock she was sitting on and Toothless noticed the axe in her hand. "No one just gets as good as you. ESPECIALLY you. Start talking." She was cornering him. "Are you training with someone? It better not involve this!" She picked up Hiccup with one hand using the flight suit leaving poor Hiccup to come up with an excuse. It suddenly occured to Toothless that maybe Hiccup didn't send her and he got up to see if Hiccup was OK.

Then she threw him to the ground and Toothless screamed in rage. Astrid gasped and jumped on top of Hiccup as Toothless bounded over.

"RUN! RUN!" She lifted her axe and was about to use it when Hiccup dived and pulled her away.

"LET ME AT HER!" Toothless roared. He tried to get at Astrid, but Hiccup stood in his way with his arms held out.

"She's a friend." Hiccup said calmly. Toothless snorted but calmed down a little. Hiccup turned to Astrid but held out a hand behind him, assuming that Toothless would still attack her given the chance. He was right, but that didn't stop Toothless from trying. "You just scared him."

'I scared HIM?!" She seemed to realize something. "WHO is HIM."

"Uhh. Astrid, Toothless. Toothless, Astrid." Hiccup introduced them.

"I don't like her." Toothless hissed.

Astrid looked between the two of them and shook her head. She turned around and ran off.

"Duh duh duh, we're dead." Hiccup lowed his arms in defeat.

"Nope. Just you." Toothless padded away.

"Woah, woah, woah. Where do you think you're going?" Hiccup crossed his arms.

"She isn't my tribemate." Toothless called over his shoulder.

"Get back here." Hiccup ran to him. "If she tells the rest of the tribe, then they'll banish me and kill you. Do you really want that?"

"Fiiinnnneeee." Toothless let Hiccup climb on and they went in search of the blond human.

They found her about two miles away from the village. She had taken the long route for some reason so it was easy to catch up. Toothless swooped down and picked her up by the arm. Astrid screamed in terror. She continued to scream until Toothless found a tree that he deemed worthy enough and he dropped her onto a branch.

"HICCUP! Get me DOWN from here!" She called.

"You have to give me a chance to explain." Hiccup pleaded.

"I am NOT listening to ANYTHING you have to say!" Astrid yelled stubbornly.

"I hope you fall." Toothless called back. Hiccup gave him a small kick for that.

"Then I won't speak, just let me show you." Astrid glared at the ground as if considering jumping. Toothless wouldn't have minded, but he knew that Hiccup would make him go after her and he really didn't want to do that. "Please, Astrid."

Astrid must have decided that she didn't want that either because she was climbing up and on to Toothless.

"If Hiccup didn't like you, you would already be dead." Toothless hissed.

Astrid settled on Toothless' back as if he had the plague. "Now get me down."

"Toothless, down, GENTLY." Hiccup patted Toothless' head. But Toothless had other plans.

Toothless spread his wings and let the wind flow under them. He faintly heard Hiccup reasure Astrid that there was nothing to be afraid of and flew up. He flew up and up and up. Not as high as he could've, but still very high.

"TOOTHLESS!" Hiccup yelled. Astrid was screaming again. Honestly, what did Hiccup see in her? Toothless steadied out and waited for Hiccup to try and convince Astrid that he wasn't usually like this before dipping to the side.

"Oh no."

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"

Toothless dove into the water and came up again several time. Not enough to make the humans on his back fall off, but enough that they were thoroughly soaked.

"TOOTHLESS WE NEED HER TO LIKE US!!!" Toothless spinned upwards and ignored Hiccup.

"Thank you for nothing you useless reptile."

"You're welcome!" And down again.

"OK! OK I"M SORRY! I"M SORRY! Just get me off of this thing." Astrid said that last part quietly and if it weren't for Toothless' exceptional hearing he probably wouldn't have heard.

"Well if you're going to apologize." Toothless smoothed out before they hit the water again.

Toothless glided up gently and heard Astrid's heartbeat slow considerably.

"Would any of you like the scenic route?" Toothless flapped his wings a little so they were now flying through the pink clouds. He soared and dipped but not enough to scare the humans too much. As they flew, the clouds turned from pink to dark purple. Toothless went up a little higher again and now they could see the sky lights. Bright greens and neon blues danced across the sky, lighting up the world above the ground. It was too cloudy for the people to enjoy this below, and there was no dragons going for a night flight, so the sky was theirs.

Eventually, Toothless flew down because humans aren't supposed to be in thin air for too long. They saw the village from up above lit up with fires, and while Toothless didn't care much for this view, the humans were captivated. So he stayed for a little while before moving on. He did not want to get shot down again.

"Alright, I admit it. This is pretty cool." Astrid spoke up. "Its... amazing. He's amazing." She reached out and gave Toothless a pat which he accepted as an apology. "So what now?"

Toothless' ears caught a low quivering noise and he swooped down to meet it before he even realized what was going on.

"Toothless, what is it?" Hiccup asked.

"Be quiet Hiccup!" Toothless hissed. "They can't know I have humans with me."

Hiccup noticed the dragons then. "Get down." He hissed at Astrid.

Toothless tried to get them out, but for once he was in the middle of things and couldn't get out without seeming too suspicious. So he flew with the dragons to the Nest. He had humans on his back and hadn't been back in days. This was not going to end well

"Hey, Night Fury. Whacha got there?" A Zippleback growled.

"None of your business." Toothless hissed. Thankfully he let it be, but Toothless wasn't sure that the Queen would. She wasn't known for being merciful.

They dove into the main cavern and flew over the Queens nest. She was asleep for now. Maybe Toothless could sneak away. He landed on a ledge and prepared to fly at the soonest moment possible

"Oh it's satisfying to know that all of our food is being dumped into a hole."

"Hiccup this is no time to be snarky." Toothless growled.

"Their not eating any of it." Astrid sounded confused but Toothless was too busy watching the hole to answer.

A Gronkle flew by for his turn. He was swaying a little drunkenly and he wasn't carrying anything.

"You idiot! You'll get us all killed!" Toothless hissed.

The Gronkle opened his mouth and a tiny fish emptied out. He seemed to realize what he did because he started flying away. But he was too slow for the giant head that shot out. The humans gasped and drew back into the shadows. Dragons whimpered and tried to hide as well. Toothless thought maybe She wouldn't notice his scent, but his luck seemed to run out.

"Little Night Fury." A soft whispery voice came out of the hole and She peeked Her head out again. "I've missed you so." She lunged out and tried to catch Toothless, but he was too fast for her. A flurry of dragons followed them out and Toothless didn't look back once.

"No, no it totally makes sense. It's like a beehive. They're the workers, and She's their queen. She controls them." They landed in the cove and Astrid jumped off. "Let's go find your dad."

"No! Astrid we can't." Toothless tuned the humans out. If he had his way, he'd take Hiccup and leave like they'd planned. But it seemed like Hiccup had more human business to attend to. It didn't concern Toothless. He took a drink in the pond while Hiccup tried to convince Astrid to let him deal with it. He looked back to see Hiccup giving him a questioning look about what Astrid did.

"Again, not my tribemate." Toothless flicked an ear at Hiccup, who rolled his eyes.

Astrid pushed her hair behind her ear and gave Hiccup a kiss on the cheek. "That, that's for everything else." She turned around and ran.

Toothless padded up to Hiccup. "Well, well, well."

"W-what are you looking at?" Hiccup demanded.

"You're welcome." Toothless huffed in Hiccup's hair and went to sleep.

Chapter Text

Hiccup must have stayed the night because when Toothless woke up, he was there, curled into his side. Toothless nuzzled Hiccup to wake him up before sliding out from underneath him.

"I should be going, I've got a... test today and can't be late." Hiccup picked up his pack and said good-bye to Toothless. Now it was only a matter of finding things to do. He tried climbing the walls. That didn't work and only got him bruised. He tried catching fish but failed like he had been for the past week. Toothless sighed and went over to his cave. Someday he will get out. But that day was not today.

Danger.

Toothless shot up and his ears picked up the last of the screams. Hiccup's screams. Toothless galloped over to the walls and tried to climb up. He slipped and fell.

"NO! NO! HICCUP IS IN DANGER! I NEED TO HELP HIM!" Toothless roared. His claws caught on some rock and he dug in. "YES!" Toothless hauled himself up and immediately started running in the direction of the village. It took longer than Toothless wanted it to. If only his tail worked. Toothless started pumping his wings. They didn't get him off the ground, but they gave him extra momentum.

All the way over Toothless was thinking of the horrible things the humans could've done to Hiccup. Maybe they tied him up for stealing. No, Hiccup would never do that, he couldn't hurt a fly. Maybe they found out about his friendship with Toothless and now they were punishing him for that. What if it wasn't a human at all. What if Hiccup ran into a dragon, and the dragon was now tearing him apart!

Toothless managed to find extra speed and soon the village came in sight. It was worse than he thought.

All the humans were gathered around a ring of sorts and were watching a Monstrous Nightmare pin down a human. Hiccup! Why weren't they doing anything?

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Toothless screamed and dove down. He shot the ring open and jumped on the Nightmare. The dragons rolled around in the smoke for a bit until Toothless delivered a painful kick to the jaw. The Nightmare shoved hum away with a hiss

"What are you doing?" The Nightmare growled.

"Defending my human." Toothless hissed back.

"That human was going to kill me!" the Nightmare tried to go around Toothless but he blocked him everytime.

"No he wasn't! He's different! You're just a hotheaded mess who didn't listen!" Toothless jumped with his claws out.

"If you want to get hurt, be my guest, Nightfury." The Nightmare slinked away. Toothless turned to Hiccup to make sure he was alright and was surprised to see him pushing him away.

"OK Toothless you need to go now." Hiccup looked up at the descending Vikings with panic in his eyes. One of them was at the entrance and grabbed an axe. He started charging at them and Toothless hissed.

"NO DAD! HE WON'T HURT YOU!" Hiccup pleaded.

"So you're the leader!" Toothless charged and jumped on the viking with fire started building in his throat. "If I kill you, the others will scatter!" Toothless aimed and-

"NO!"

Toothless swallowed the blast and looked at Hiccup with confusion. "But they hurt you..."

Hiccup looked back with pain and a little gratitude in his eyes. Toothless didn't get time to do anything else because another Viking (how many were there?) shoved him off the leader and pinned him down.

"Please! He was only trying to help!" Hiccup pleaded to his vikings. Toothless could see Astrid holding him back "Don't hurt him!" The Vikings pulled/dragged Toothless to one of the cages. He was bound and gagged and left there. When the Vikings left, Toothless strained against the ropes and tried to snap his mouth open, but they had done their job well.

"N-nightfury?" a tiny voice called out. Toothless paused and tried to pinpoint where it was coming from. A Terrible Terror stepped into a thin stream of light and cocked his head. "W-what happened out t-t-there?"

Toothless looked imploringly at the dragon. He couldn't talk because the Vikings had gagged him but the Terrible Terror could use his teeth to snap the ropes. If he did that, then they could free all the dragons, get Hiccup, and get out of here.

"Y-you want me to get the r-ropes off." The Terror guessed. Toothless nodded. "W-well, I w-w-would, but I have no t-t-teeth. Just r-really sharp gums. And t-t-that doesn't h-help against the m-muzzle. S-s-so sorry." The little dragon creeped closer. "I guess it's j-j-just you and me tonight. H-hey! I s-s-should tell you about t-this human outside! He's r-r-really friendly a-and doesn't yell o-or laugh at any of us." Toothless wasn't in the mood to listen about how awesome Hiccup was. He knew this already and it didn't fix that Hiccup was probably still in danger. So he just leaned his head against the cold stone wall and waited while the Vikings decided what to do with him.

Chapter Text

It was only a hour or so before they came to get him. Part of Toothless was relieved. The little Terrible Terror was annoying. The other part was worried. Hiccup wasn't with them, so he didn't convince them to let Toothless go. And they weren't very gentle either, so Hiccup didn't change their minds yet. Instead they loaded him up like cattle and strapped him on a ship. Toothless saw Hiccup at one point, on a cliff looking down at them. He was too far away to see his expression, but Toothless could guess. Then they were off sailing to who knows where. Toothless had a pretty good idea, but he really hoped it wasn't where he thinks it is. Really really hoped. The humans could do whatever they wanted, but dragging Toothless along was just unfair. Toothless glared at the chief. How could he be the father to such a perfect human like Hiccup was beyond Toothless. Hiccup must get it from his mother. There was nothing to be done now but wait. Toothless lowered his head and almost missed the Queen's call.

Hiccup gazed up at the doors of the cage in front of him. This was a stupid plan, the kind that Toothless would huff and grab the back of Hiccup's shirt and drag him away from kind of plan. But Toothless wasn't here now, was he? It was just him and maybe Astrid if she ever came back from whatever she was grabbing.

"If you're wanting to get eaten, I'd chose the Gronkle." A voice brought Hiccup back from his thoughts and he spun around in surprise. All of his classmates were there. Ruffnut and Tuffnut, Snotlout and Fishlegs. Astrid was there too. Did she bring them?

Tuffnut walked forward waving his hand around dramatically. "You were wise to seek help from the deadliest weapon. It's me." 

Snotlout shoved him out of the way, also waving his hands around. "I LOVE this plan!"

"Uh.." Hiccup didn't invite them.

Ruffnut was next. "You're crazy! I like that..." She might have said more but Astrid grabbed her by the helmet and peeled her away.

"So! What is the plan?" Astrid smiled at Hiccup expectantly.

Hiccup looked over her shoulder at the only people who were crazy enough to try this plan and smiled.

Chapter Text

Toothless' head jerked up as he heard the call. Oh, Vikings were stupid! Why would they try to come here? Toothless twisted from side to side as he located where it was coming from. The boats followed his lead. After what seemed like forever, the ships hit the rocky shore of the Nest. The Vikings loaded out and started setting up for battle.

"Stop. Stop! Don't you hear Her? She's waking up, and when She does, She will eat you all!" Toothless cried out. Some Viking hit him on the head and Toothless hissed at him. Why weren't they running? Because they don't know about Her. Toothless realized. That's why Hiccup and his girlfriend were so shocked to see Her. None of the Vikings know. 

The chief walked up to the side of the mountain. He raised up his hand and let it fall as a signal. Catapults released boulders and they crashed, leaving a giant hole. Someone let out another boulder, this one one fire and it lit the tunnel before them. Dragons started fleeing in terror and Toothless wished he could follow them. He strained against the ropes even more to no success. 

"WE DID IT!" Someone shouted, probably the idiot who hit him, and the Vikings cheered. Toothless tried to make himself as small as possible. The calm before the storm. The chief looked at him and Toothless begged with his eyes to see reason. She wasn't done yet. She hadn't even started.

"This isn't over! Form your ranks! Hold together!" The chief called as the mountain started to shake. 

"LEAVE!" 

She came crashing out in all her grey and red beauty. Giant, deadly, and mad. Very very mad.

"GET CLEAR!" The chief yelled and everyone scattered. The Viking with only two limbs swore. "What is that?"

"Odin help us." The chief said. Toothless couldn't see his face, but he knew the terror it held well. It was terror beyond imagination. Terror and the knowledge you were going to die.

"ODIN CANNOT HELP YOU NOW PUNY HUMANS!" She roared and the mountain shook even more.

"CATAPULTS!" 

"WHAT"S A CATAPULT GOING TO DO!?" Toothless' screams were lost in the stampead of humans getting to their ships.

"WHAT DELIGHTFUL SNACKS. BUT YOU CAN'T GET AWAY NOW." She set fire to the ships and Toothless barely avoided getting burned.

"GET ME OUT!" Toothless screamed again. He was going to die. Oh he hoped Hiccup was OK. He faintly heard the blast of a Nadder but couldn't be sure. "HELP!"

Hiccup jumped out of nowhere and Toothless was shocked into silence. 

Hiccup picked something up and tried getting the chains off. "Miss me?"

"WATCH OUT!" Her tail came swinging into view and Hiccup dove out of the way. She stepped on the boat and Toothless sunk into the water. Hiccup swam after him and tried pulling the chains out instead.

"It won't work! I've already tried!" Hiccup tugged and the rest of his air left his lungs. No... NO! Hiccup was suddenly pulled up toward the surface. "HICCUP!" Toothless screamed.

The chief swam back and looked at Toothless. 

"Help..." Toothless begged. The chief pulled the frame apart and Toothless was free. Toothless grabbed the chief and shot up to the surface where Hiccup was waiting.

"Coming?"

"You've got it, bud." Hiccup ran to Toothless and hopped on.

"Hiccup!" The chief ran to them and grabbed Hiccup's arm. "I-I'm sorry. F-for everything."

"Yeah me too."

"You don't have go up there."

Toothless didn't have to see Hiccup to know that he was smiling. "We're Vikings. It's an occupational hazard."

"I'm proud to call you my son." The chief said and Toothless could hear the sincerity in his voice.

"Thanks Dad." Hiccup choked. Toothless shot up into the sky before he could start crying. 

"What are they doing here!?" That nice Nadder, the sweet Gronkle, those annoying Zipplebacks, and the Nightmare were all here, attacking Her, with other humans riding them.

"He's up!" Toothless heard Astrid call. This was getting better and better. Well, Hiccup would need all the help he could get. But Toothless was here now, so everything would be OK. Thankfully the dragons started clearing out. She decided that She didn't like that and started sucking the Nadder into her mouth.

"NOT ON MY WATCH!" Toothless screamed and shot into Her mouth. Astrid fell to the ground screaming and Toothless dived after her and caught her by the foot

"Did you get her?" Hiccup asked and Toothless looked down to see if she was OK. Astrid grinned at him and Toothless smiled back. He found a place where she could stay out of the way and set her down gentle before racing off to deal with the Queen.

"That thing has wings!"

"Yeah, but She doesn't like them."

"OK! Let's see if She can use them!"

"Wha- OH! Oh that's brilliant!" Toothless looped around and shot Her in the head, making her fall.

"THAT'S IT! YOU'RE DEAD!" She slowly rose up and started beating her wings.

"Think that did it?" Hiccup asked.

"She's following us, isn't she?"

"Well she can fly."

"That's a yes." Toothless flew through the sea stacks effortlessly while She had to crash through them, slowing Her down even more.

"OK Toothless, time to disappear!" Toothless shot up into the clouds.

"Here we go!"

She followed them and circled around, trying to find them. "Oh Nightfury.... Hiding again? How predictable..." 

Toothless shot Her from above and She screamed in pain. "OH JUST LIKE YOUR MOTHER!"

"DON'T TALK ABOUT HER!" Toothless shot Her again. And again and again. Finally She had enough and blew fire around successfully bringing them out into the open.

"Uh oh."

"Let me guess, my tail?"

"Times up. Let's see if this works." Toothless looped around again.

"Come on? That the best you can do?" Hiccup taunted and Toothless added some cursing of his own. 

"YOU LITTLE BRATS." She tried to chomp on them again, but Toothless ducked last minute. He dove to the ground as fast as he could. Toothless could hear a clicking and figured that Hiccup was trying to get his tail working again.

"Stay with me buddy, You're good just a little longer." Hiccup was trying to comfort Toothless or himself, he didn't know which, but it wasn't working.

"I've got you."

"Pull Toothless. NOW!" Toothless flipped around and shot into Her open mouth. She swallowed and a look of surprise came over Her ugly features. "What did yo-"

Toothless let his wings in and parachuted away. There was a boom that echoed in his ears and Toothless flapped harder. 

"Almost..."

"No... NO!" Toothless didn't see the tail coming until it was too late. They rammed into it and fell backwards into the explosion behind them.

"HICCUP!" Hiccup was falling unconscious into the fire. "I-I'VE GOT YOU! JUST HOLD ON!"

Fire eloped his scales and burned them. Toothless reached out and-

Hold on.....

Chapter Text

Cold.

It was just so cold. And everything hurt. Why did it hurt? Where was Hiccup? Toothless rolled over to try and find a more comfortable position when he felt a small body curled in his wings. Everything came rushing back. Getting captured, the battle, and diving after Hiccup as he fell into the flames of the Queens demise. He opened his eyes to see the chief looking down at him mournfully. 

"This is you're fault you know." Toothless growled. The chief clearly felt bad enough, but he couldn't help it. If the chief hadn't gone after the Queen, then Hiccup wouldn't have followed, he wouldn't have fought her, and he wouldn't be unconscious in Toothless wings. 

"Son... I'm so sorry..." The chief whispered. There was so much pain in his eyes. Toothless wondered what it would be like if he had lost his own offspring to something that was his fault. He didn't like that idea.

"He's fine." Toothless unfurled his wings, showing Hiccup tucked safe and sound. Hopefully. Toothless was suddenly worried. What if it was too late? What if he didn't get there in time? What if....

Before Toothless could panic too much, the chief grabbed Hiccup and pressed his ear to Hiccup's chest. He listened for a moment and Toothless held his breath. He couldn't lose Hiccup, not now.

"He's alive! You've brought him back alive!" The chief sounded close to tears and if dragons could cry, Toothless would be too. He barely regestered the cheering behind them, he just focused on Hiccup and relaxed when he saw his chest move. 

"We're not done yet." Toothless whispered. "We've got so much to do and see."

The chief put his hand on Toothless' head gently. "Thank you for bringing back my son." He smiled a bit as a burly Viking came up and looked Hiccup over as well.

"Well, you know... most of him..." 

Wait, what?

Chapter Text

It was a very long trip back.

Much longer than Toothless remembered coming in. Hiccup didn't wake up.

They arrived at Berk. Someone came to pick Hiccup up, but Toothless wouldn't let them. He would only let the chief near him. The chief came and brought Hiccup to a house that looked new. But all the houses looked new, so there was really nothing special about that. It was high up and looked over the village, so Toothless assumed that it was the chief's house, and therefore Hiccup's. The chief yelled at someone to bring a bed down from the upstairs and set Hiccup down. Hiccup didn't move.

Days passed. Humans and dragons alike came by. An old healer who the Vikings called Gothi came and checked on Hiccup. She dressed his wounds and made him more comfortable. Hiccup still didn't wake up.

The small Vikings came by often. And the dragons whom they were riding too. They stood a respectable distance away and waited until Toothless gave them permission to come closer. They mostly stared at him for the first few days, but soon they became comfortable and talked a little. Telling Hiccup about improvements around the village, the food he was missing, and asked tips for riding. They didn't get a response, but they tried anyway.

Toothless stayed with him the whole time. He crooned some lullabies that his mother sang him, hoping that it helped Hiccup sleep that much better. He had no way of knowing, of course, Hiccup's expression remained unchanged, but maybe it did.

The Gothi healer came back on the seventh day. She put some sort of herbs under Hiccup's nose (after Toothless made sure it was safe. It stank, but didn't smell dangerous) to try and wake him up to no avail. She was getting frustrated and so was Toothless. Why wouldn't he wake up? If he didn't wake up soon, would he ever? Toothless didn't like the sound of that, but the Gothi healer didn't have much hope.

The eighth day came and Toothless nudged Hiccup's hand. 

"Please Hiccup. Please wake up. It's not fun without you. We were going to explore, remember? Fly as far as we can. Your friend improved my tail. He made it look much better, but you need to wake up and see if it works. Everyone else is worried about you. They don't think you're going to make it. But your dad said that you will. I like your dad. He doesn't give up. Just like you." Toothless nudged Hiccup's hand again. No response. He sighed and rested his head on Hiccup's bed. He was going to wake up. He had too. Because if he didn't, Toothless was going to kill him. 

Hiccup groaned and opened his eyes.

Chapter Text

Hiccup groaned and opened his eyes. Toothless perked up and sniffed his face to make sure he was alright.

"Hey Toothless." Hiccup murmured. 

"You're up! Finally! Come on! Let's go outside!" Toothless used his nose to shove Hiccup awake. Hiccup suddenly sat up straight holding his stomach and realized where he was.

"Ow- Uh I'm in my house..." Toothless was shaking with excitement and started bouncing around. "You're in my house..!"

"Where else would I be, Hiccup?" Toothless accidentally knocked something over but didn't pay to much attention to it. Probably wasn't important anyway. "Ooo! You should see what everyone did while you were gone! It sounds amazing! And there's so much fish! Why didn't you tell me there was so much fish?"

"Toothless!" Hiccup snapped. Toothless looked over at him. He was starting to get out of bed and Toothless jumped down. He wasn't going to like this part. Hiccup paused and looked down at his leg. In stead of a boot, there was a wood and metal contraction. Rope tied the pants and the wood top together making it a substitute leg. Toothless remembered what it felt like to first have a fake tail. It would probably feel similar.

"I'm sorry. I tried to catch you... but..." Toothless looked up at Hiccup. "Please don't be mad."

Hiccup looked up at Toothless and took a deep breath. He got to his feet and took another deep breath.

"Take your time. I'm not going anywhere." Toothless promised. Hiccup puffed out his chest, took a step forward, and fell. Toothless shot out and caught him before he hit the ground, though. 

"Thanks Toothless." They made their way to the door. Hiccup and Toothless. Just how it should be. Hiccup let go of Toothless and opened the door to Hookfang's face. He promptly shut it again and caught his breath.

"Toothless... You stay here." Hiccup opened the door again and this time they could see Snotlout with Hookfang.

"Come on guys!" They flew off and Hiccup stepped out in amazement. Toothless watched from the door as Hiccup immediately got surrounded by Vikings. He snorted a bit when Hiccup said he thought he was dead. 

"I would never let that happen!" Toothless sat down to wait for Gobber to present Hiccup with the tail so they could go flying again.

Half an hour later Toothless was set up and ready to go. His new tail was connected with his saddle and Hiccup was here. Safe, sound, and awake. Stormfly and the others were ready for a race and Toothless was more than ready to show them who the fastest was. They flew around the village; swooping over houses, diving under bridges, and soaring over the mountain top. Hiccup let out an excited whoop and Toothless roared with delight. They didn't touch the ground until well after dark.