HTTYD - My Rider- Chapter 17

Hiccup didn't wake again for the entirety of the journey back to Berk. He was wrapped up to keep him warm in the harsh weather, and Toothless provided extra body heat too. He had no idea how long they had been at sea for, he just wanted them to get back soon, so Hiccup could get better. Toothless glanced up at Astrid who still had Hiccup's hand in her own. Her teeth chattered slightly and one arm was wrapped around herself. But being the stubborn Viking that she was, she wasn't saying anything about it, and as night was falling, the temperature was rapidly declining.

'Typical' Toothless snorted and nudged her with his head. She glanced up at him questioningly and he lifted up a wing and looked at it. ' Go on'

"You want me to sit b-by you?" Astrid asked, trying to hold back her shivers.

' Yes. You can hold Hiccup's other hand' he snorted. ' Just get here before you freeze to death. The last thing we need is you dying along with Hiccup's injury'

Astrid hesitantly crawled over and sat in between Hiccup and Toothless, the latter's wing draping around her lightly, pulling her closer. Immediately she felt warmer and her fingers found those of Hiccup's left hand. "Thanks Toothless" she murmured, and he simply nodded at her, staring down at Hiccup.  "I know you probably blame yourself" she said suddenly. "But it wasn't your fault. If you hadn't have done what you did… Then Hiccup might not be with us"

Toothless felt his ears droop lightly at the thought of Hiccup dying, of him not existing on earth anymore. The idea and notion hurt him, it cut him deeper than he could have ever imagined. A while back, he recalled making a promise to Hiccup that he would protect him, no matter what, and a large part of him had told him that he'd failed in his duty. Hiccup was injured and in great pain, and it was due to him. However, Astrid's words provided him with some comfort. He was not able to save Hiccup's leg and couldn't fully protect him, but he had taken the brunt of the impact when they'd hit the ground and had protected the majority of Hiccup's body from the flames. But Astrid was right, if he hadn't of sacrificed Hiccup's leg, then the boy may not be alive.

Though inwardly, he was slightly irritated towards the gods for taking Hiccup's leg. Rendering the savior unable to walk was not a part of his deal. Yet, he wondered, had Hiccup struck a deal with the gods as he himself did? Or was this just a cruel joke? Either way, Toothless found he couldn't really be too angry with the gods, for though they had taken something precious away from him, his flight, they had given him something much more precious. Hiccup.

"There" Stoick said suddenly, causing both Astrid and Toothless to glance up. "The lights. We're almost home!" he grinned, and Astrid looked immensely relieved.

"Thank the gods" she sighed, blowing her long blonde bang away from her eye.  

' Almost there Hiccup' Toothless crooned softly, glancing ahead at the lights that light up the village of Berk. ' You're almost home'

--

The boats pulled up to the docks and the Vikings began to file out, being careful to not stand on Hiccup, or to get too close, as Toothless would growl whenever they did. Astrid tried to stand, intending on following them off of the boat, but couldn't move Toothless's wing.

"Toothless" she said in exasperation, turning to look at him. "We're home. I'll be okay, I promise"

Toothless stared at her in disbelief before reluctantly moving his wing, allowing the blonde to jump out of the boat. Stoick walked over warily and bent down to pick up Hiccup. Toothless let out a warning growl at him. ' Be careful you don't hurt him' he warned, narrowing his eyes and standing up.

Stoick nodded at him and carefully exited the boat, holding Hiccup in his arms. "Spitelout, Hoarke. You two go to my house and bring Hiccup's bed downstairs."

"Downstairs?" 'Spitelout' questioned.

Stoick nodded. "The dragon-"Toothless let out a small growl. "I mean Toothless might be a bit too big for his bedroom whilst his leg is healing"

Toothless tilted his head; did that mean he could stay? He supposed so. Spitelout and Hoarke nodded and ran ahead of them to go to Stoick's home.

"Astrid. You go and fetch the village healer for me" Stoick commanded, and the blonde nodded.
"Yes chief" she stated, casting one more look at Hiccup before turning and running towards where she knew the healer lived.

Stoick then began to walk towards the house, Hiccup held carefully in his arms. Toothless dutifully followed, noting distractedly that this was the first time he'd been allowed to walk through the village. He heard the whispers and gossiping, but pushed it out of his mind as he kept his eyes upon the young red-head in Stoick's arms. Stoick began to walk up the hill which led to his house and Toothless bounded up after him gracefully. The larger Viking opened the door with one hand and turned to Toothless.

"Stay" he commanded and Toothless stared at him in disbelief.

' Funny. No way' Toothless snorted. Yeah, like he was going to leave Hiccup now. He took a step forward, fully intending to follow Stoick inside.

"You stay here until the healer is done with him" Stoick said in exasperation. "You can't be in there when that happens"

' Why not? ' Toothless growled, glaring at him, but Stoick glared defiantly back. Toothless let out a small huff of indignation and turned his back to Stoick, sitting on his haunches. Stoick raised an eyebrow at the dragon's obvious attitude problem before walking inside with his son and shutting the door.

Toothless stared out at the village and marveled at the sight before him. The Vikings who had come back on the boat and the teenagers who had flown back were explaining to the others what had happened, and how dragons weren't really evil after all. Many seemed reluctant to accept this, but seeing the tame dragons with the teenagers managed to convince a few of them. Toothless felt slightly amused as he saw how at home the dragons were making themselves and felt, with a thrill of satisfaction, that this would probably annoy Stoick to no end. He snorted at the thought of his humans sire.

' Stupid human' he mumbled irritably and glanced up when he saw an elderly man walk up the hill accompanied by Astrid. He tilted his head to the side curiously as Astrid stopped by him, and the man continued into the house. ' How come he can go in and I can't? ' Toothless asked in a sulking tone.

"That's the healer" Astrid explained, gently patting Toothless's head. "He's gonna help Hiccup. You'll see" She looked thoughtful for a moment. "I wonder what this place is going to be like now that we don't have to worry about dragon raids…"

Toothless snorted in amusement. ' Once word gets out that a human and dragon worked together to defeat the Queen, the dragons will flock here and make this their new home…to live amongst humans'

"Y'know" Astrid began slowly. "All my life I've trained to fight dragons… it's been my only goal. And here I am talking to one and riding them. So now I think…'now what?' What goal do I have now?"
Toothless tilted his head and looked at her questioningly.

"And there's Blue y'know… I've never felt so guilty towards a dragon in my life. I mean in training I hurt and scared her, but she's still willing to accept me as a rider" Astrid continued, sitting down on the floor next to him. "I've got a lot of making up to do…To the dragons and to Hiccup"
Toothless couldn't really disagree with that, but he gently nudged his head against her shoulder to show that she had his support, and she smiled at him.

"I can see why you're his best friend" she stated, hugging her knees close to her chest. "You're a great listener. And you're loyal and protective."

Toothless held his head a little higher and looked smug. ' Yes, well. I do try'

Astrid stifled a laugh at how self-assured he looked up when she heard someone approaching.

"Gobber!" she said quickly, standing up. "You're back…Does that mean the others are too?"

Gobber nodded at her with a small grin. "Aye lass. We're all back safe 'n' sound"

Astrid nodded, looking relieved and the trio glanced at the door, hearing muffled speaking noises coming from within.

"I'm gonna see what the healer said about his leg. Gonna see if I have to make him something" Gobber stated grimly, and Toothless's ears pressed back against his head once more. "Don't let it worry ya, beast" Gobber tried to console, as Toothless bristled at being called a beast. "If he loses It, I'll make sure he flies again, don't you worry" he grinned and walked into the house, shutting the door behind him.

Toothless felt his eye twitch in slight annoyance. It wasn't fair that all these people could go inside to see Hiccup whilst he was stuck out here. He huffed irritably, and Astrid hid a smile at his indignation.
"You'll see him soon Toothless" she tried to soothe. "Just let the healer do his job and then you'll be able to look after him."

From inside the house, they heard a distinct yelp of pain which they easily identified as Hiccup's, and Toothless's ears dropped back.

' What are they doing? ' he asked in a panicked tone, beginning to frantically scratch at the door. ' Why is he in pain?? '

"Toothless…Come on" Astrid groaned, grabbing a hold of his now ruined saddle, trying to pull it to get him away from the door.

Toothless dug his hind legs into the ground stubbornly and continued to scratch at the door desperately, until Stoick threw open the door, looking irritated.

"What?" he snapped, glaring at the dragon. Toothless glared back and tried to look around him to see into the house.

"Sorry chief" Astrid sighed. "He heard Hiccup and got a bit worried"

' A bit? ' Toothless repeated with a small snort. ' More than a bit! '

"Listen devil" Stoick stated, shaking his head. "He's got an injured leg, it's going to hurt him, but he's going to be alright. The healer said he would. So go… eat some fish or something"

Toothless snorted and gave Stoick his best intimidating glare, but the Viking refused to back down. Toothless growled slightly and shot a small ball of fire at his feet and turned and bounded off towards the village, Stoick's yells and curses being music to his ears.

He glanced around the village, seeing Vikings giving him scared glances and attempting to avoid him. He rolled his eyes, as long as none of them tried to kill him, he'd be fine. He was startled suddenly when he felt a small hand touch his flank, and looked down to see a small female hatchling with icy blue eyes and a shock of black hair. She squeaked in fright when he looked at her and scurried off back to her awestruck friends, squealing slightly that she'd 'touched the Night Fury'

Toothless let out a small chuckle. That was quite cute. He didn't realize how 'adorable' Viking children could really be. He shook his head and continued to walk through the village, turning when he felt Blue's presence behind him.

' Hello Blue' He greeted, nodding his head.

' Hello Toothless' Blue replied, inclining her head back towards him. ' How are you? I had suspected you'd be with your human'

' I want to be' Toothless moaned, feeling irritated. ' But his Sire is stubborn'

Blue smiled knowingly. ' You don't get on' she guessed.

' You'd think he'd be a little more grateful' Toothless snorted irritably. ' I mean me and Hiccup only saved them all from the Queen. Hah. Humans. I'll never understand them'

'No me either' Blue agreed.

'Speaking of humans, I was surprised that you accepted Astrid as a rider' Toothless stated, and Blue gave a half shrug.

'It was mainly because of your rider' she admitted. ' But she knows the good places to scratch and she keeps apologizing for hurting me. She's actually quite grown on me'

"Hey Blue, Toothless" Astrid called, running over with a brush in her hand. Blue glanced at it and shook herself, looking slightly excited.

'Grooming time! ' she noted, nudging Astrid gently with her head.

'Typical Nadders. So vain' Toothless teased, earning himself a glare. Astrid simply smiled and began to lightly groom Blue, the dragon letting out purrs of content.

Toothless smiled slightly and walked on, inhaling as he noticed a weak scent which he identified as Hiccup's, coming from a fairly large building. He tilted his head slightly, recalling that that was the place Hiccup brought him to when his harness had gotten stuck. He squeezed his way through the door and looked around, noticing a small desk, which was where Hiccup's scent was located from. He wandered over to it, trying to avoid knocking into anything and found various drawings of him, along with drawn plans for his saddle and tail fin.

Toothless felt a rush of affection hit him and he glanced back at his tail, which now only had one fin due to the Queen's fire. He let out a small sigh and walked out of the building, blinking and looking around him in surprise.

' Word gets around fast' He noted, looking at the new groups of dragons who had landed on Berk. The teenagers were trying to calm the frantic adults and were trying to stop a fight from breaking out.

"Oy you" Gobber said suddenly, limping towards him. "What were you doin' in the forge?"
Toothless acquired an innocent expression, his eyes widening. ' I don't know what you're talking about'

"Yeah, you're Hiccup's dragon alright" Gobber snorted. "Skilled at the innocent look, but no-one believes yeh." He chuckled as Toothless huffed. "Speakin' of Hiccup, you're free to go in. I gotta build him a new leg anyway."

Toothless looked slightly alarmed at this. ' He lost his leg? ' he whined and turned, sprinting back towards the house, ignoring the shouts of surprise. He bounded towards the front door and hit his front paws against it, kicking it open. Stoick glanced up at the noise and stood up, fully intending to push Toothless out of the house for the stunt he pulled earlier, but Toothless, sensing this, quickly jumped up onto a beam near the ceiling, grinning evilly.

Stoick growled irritably and rubbed his temples. "Fine" he muttered. "Stay here and look after him. I need to talk to the village about this dragon stuff anyway"

' You don't have to tell me twice' Toothless snorted, waiting until Stoick was near the door before jumping down, noting with grim satisfaction that his boots were scorched. The black dragon gently pulled away the covers from Hiccup's bed as Stoick left with his teeth, and upon seeing the bandage and bloody stump, he cringed and let out a low whine before covering him up again. He checked to see if the boy was in any pain before lightly licking his cheek and wrapping himself around the bed.

' Get well soon Hiccup…'