Date published: 3rd/April/2021

Hope you have a great Easter! Apologies for any errors.

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Tuffnut's POV

After introducing myself, I slump back onto the sand with a groan. Everything is so sore from all the struggling I've done. Sorer than that time I fell into a thorn bush. After Ruff pushed me. We were trying to prank Astrid. It backfired.

In fact, I'm pretty tired. But even I know it's kind of stupid to fall asleep in front of a wild, rabid (maybe not), unfamiliar dragon.

Unfortunately, that doesn't mean I care.

So I rest my hands behind my head and close my eyes, wanting to sleep.

I hear the dragon move away. Then I hear a splash. But after that, I'm only accompanied by silence, which lulls me into sleep.

I'm startled awake by something landing in my lap, and I groan.
"But sleeeeep!" I whine, sitting up and rubbing my eye. I look down to see a dead fish laying in my lap. I cock my head and look up at the dragon, who huffs and turns away, uncaring. I look back down at the fish.

"Eww, I don't wanna eat raw fish," I complain. My stomach growls. "Or...do I?" I raise a finger to my chin and tap. Well, there was that one uncle who could pass an entire cod through his nose. And debone it at the same time! So surely it won't hurt.
"Heh, I mean, you probably eat raw fish all the time!" I grin, before rising the fish and biting into it. I kissed as I chew it. "Hmm, not bad, a little salty. Could do with some herbs. Make a light roasting." I critique. "I nice yak sauce would go perfectly with this!" I add brightly, before biting into the fish again.

It reminds me of the days when my idiot twin and I would sneak onto a fishing boat and steal some fish. Sometimes we'd have to hide them in our mouths. Good times!

I finish the fish quickly, mumbling occasional criticism as I do so until just the bones are left.

I look up, wondering where the dragon went. Everything is so dark, but I can hear it shuffling around.
"Hey, where'd you go dragon?" I call out. "Don't leave old Tuffster alone in the dark!" I add. "He really doesn't like it."

A quiet grunt rings out in the darkness. "Cool story bro," I answer.
Another grunt.

Then there's a flash in front of my eyes, and I groan. "My eeeyes!" I whine, raising an arm. "My pooor eyes! How will I watch destruction if I—" I pause. "Oh, I can see."

A few steps in front of me is a fire. So while there was only a little light before, there's now neighing light to light up the whole... cave? Den? I don't even know where I am.

The dragon snorts at me from the other side of the fire. I stare at it. It looks back. I keep staring. It starts to look self-conscious. It grunts, flicking its eyes away and then back to me as if to see if I'm still looking. I am.
I can't help but stifle a chuckle when it self-consciously raises a wing to shield its head from view. I stare in awe.

"Coool!"

It peers out of its wing. This dragon is not like any we faced in dragon training! I wonder how much destruction it can cause?!

It slowly lowers its wing. Stares at me. "You're surprisingly not destructive for a dragon," I comment, it narrows its eyes at me, then turns its head to the fire. It opens its mouth and a h u g e ball of flame flies to the fire and doubles the flames.
"Whoaaa." I grin in awe. "Do it again!"

It snorts.
"So what kind of dragon are you anyway?" I wonder. It doesn't look like a Gronkle, or a Monstrous Nightmare, or a Nadder. It shakes his head, dives into the water, and back out again. When it returns to solid ground, I notice its scales look more...brighter? What's the opposite of dull? Brain? You there?

It shakes its head again, as if itchy, and a light mist sprays from its body. It lets out a coo and lies down away from the fire. I decide that I like fire like a normal creature (I glare at the dragon suspiciously— who doesn't like fire?!), so I shuffle forwards and sit next to the warm fire.
"Oh, yeah." I sigh in satisfaction.

I watch the dragon. It's so cool for Thor's sake! Could you blame me?!

It's got four legs, which TWO more than me! You hear that?! That's twice the possible kicks!

It's not too tall, though. Which makes us even because tallness equals the ability to set higher pranks.

However, it (he? I guess so), he has wings, which makes us dragon: 2, Tuffnut: 1. They're a cool green-y blue colour. With shiny, smooth looking scales. The wings are really big, though. Almost too big. How much is too big? It can fully wrap itself up in its wings...which is what it's doing now. I think I made him uncomfortable, haha.

I settle on his tail. I don't have one of those. Well, I haven't been able to catch it. Yet. His is pretty thick, and fans out at the end, like most sea creature's tails do (I think? I don't go on the water too much: I can't swim). Its tail is the same colour as its wings (and body), but it has one long thin on top. Yep, this is a water dragon. That can apparently breathe fire.

Oh, it's head. Well, I have one of those, so Ha! Take that. His face and nose is kind of narrow, with an eye on each side. He has a weird layer of skin that pops up and down behind his ears as he moves and speaks. He has gills just behind it. I bet that would be great for pranks. I wonder why its head is so weird? Maybe it means it is easier to poke other dragons?

The other thing I don't have, and it does, is the two thins side by side on its back. They start above its wing joins (see? I'm not always stupid... why don't we call bombs "booms" like we call wombs "woombs" and tombs "tooms?" Sorry, off-track) and they end before it's tail. They're so cool. I wonder how sharp they are?! How much damage can they do?! Are they flexible, or are they hard?

"Being a human sucks. I can't even hold my breath underwater for 2 minutes." I huff, crossing my arms. The dragon snorts and turns its head away from me. I shrug. "Sleep sounds good though."

I lay back down. I'll deal with how to get out of here in the morning (? Or will it be afternoon? Night? I don't care).

I close my eyes, slowly drifting off to sleep.

Somewhere, in the back of my mind, I wonder what happened to Ruffnut. Whether she's even alive. Or if she's...dead. Meeting Loki without me.

Hiccup's POV

The time with Dagur passes as a blur, and I soon find myself being trained back to the cell.
Dagur had spent the entire time pestering me, asking me, demanding me, for information about Toothless. How I managed to 'subdue' him. How I 'controlled' him. Why I was on the island, and whether Berk is planning something. I didn't tell him anything, of course. Didn't even tell him that I was cast out from Berk. He didn't hurt me too badly this time; just a few cuts from a knife, a bunch of kicks and punches. Oh and he tried to drown me, but y'know, I handled it.

Flashback

"You gonna tell me now?" Dagur drawls, pushing me against the wall.
"Nah, I think I'll pass." I rasp.
"Well, don't say I didn't give you a chance."
And the next thing I knew, he was pushing me into a huge barrel. It must have originally been used for storage, I think, as I'm forced into the water that fills it.
On contact, I let out a hiss of pain; all the wounds, from today and yesterday, sear and sting from the salt in the water. I look up as Dagur laughs, and then shoves my head underwater.

My eyes widen as I take in what's happening. He's trying to drown me! I struggle under his grip, but he doesn't let me up. I didn't even get a chance to take a great before he'd pushed me under. I claw at his arms. I can hear his muffled laughter. I squirm more.

Finally, finally, he lets go.

Air. AIR!

I wheeze, desperately trying to gain my breath, but before I can fully recover, I flick my eyes up and notice Dagur. His arm twitches.

I grab his arm just as he swings forward for my head again.

I tug.

He tumbles in with a yelp of surprise. The water slushes, some ends up outside the barrel.

Dagur lets out a low growl as he steadies himself.

With a cry of desperation, I grip the edge of the barrel and wrench myself up, but Dagur lunges for me. I try to kick him back, but he ends up hanging onto my foot, while I still cling to the edge.

The barrel shakes.

Oh no.

Dagur presses up against me, hands finding my neck, but the barrel tips over from our weight, and we tumble out onto the floor.

I let out a soft groan as Dagur lands on top of me. His hands find my neck again.

I can't breathe.

I scratch at his meaty hands, hearing his taunting voice, but as the seconds pass, and he still strangles me, it becomes muffled.

Then a new voice.

Dagur retreats.

But I'm too focused on being able to breathe again to take notice of him.

And as I lay there on the ground, messaging my throat with a soft groan as air fills my lungs once again, I look up at the new figure in the room. Just a guard. He looks nervous. He says something to Dagur, who says something back, then points to me. I turn my head to scowl up at him.

"Guess you'll need a new plan," I mutter to Dagur. I snap my eyes to the guard again as he steps towards me. He bends down. I tense. He grips my arm and yanks me up. Grabs my prosthetic from the ground. Tugs me out of the room as Dagur promises:

"I'll see you soon, brother!"

Present time

The guard unlocks the cell door and shoves me in. I fall to the ground, as even with my prosthetic I'm too weak to stand. The guard snickers and leaves, slamming the door behind him. I want to say something sarcastic to him, but I'm pretty sure he technically saved my life, so I decide to spare him.

I move to lay against the wall, eyes closed as I try to catch my breath and ignore the pain.

"You look like crap, he really did a number on you, eh?"

Oh. I forgot about Bo.

"Nah, thought I'd try out a new look," I respond sarcastically, keeping my eyes shut. I pause. "Sorry."

"It's ok. So, what did he do?"

I shrug a shoulder. "Punch, stab, kick. Stuff like that." I decide to leave out the attempted drowning and the strangling.

"Must be in a bad mood."

"He was particularly chatty. My comments didn't help." I respond with a shrug, then fall silent after that.

We don't speak for a little while, I'm too exhausted. After an hour or so, A guard comes by and shoves in a plate of bread and a cup of water. I only take it because he said, and I quote, "if you don't take the food, neither does he," and pointed at Bo. I didn't think it would be fair to deprive him, so I took it.

It helped, anyway. I didn't realise how hungry I was until now.
What I certainly was not expecting, was for an extra bit of bread to fly into my cell. I look over at Bo, who smiles at me, it's a bit lighter inside now. Daytime. I can make his features out a little better; brown hair, brown eyes, broader build than me around the shoulders. Pretty skinny though, but I bet if he was free, he'd probably have muscles.

"You sure?" I ask him. He nods.
"You need it more than me."
I bite into it, mumbling a thanks.

"So, Hiccup. Care to tell me now why Dagur is so interested in you?"

I freeze. Should I tell the truth? Should I do this? I glance at him. Is he even ready to hear it? Berk didn't take well when they found out... But Bo isn't Berk. He's just a prisoner like me, so what could he do anyway? The worst thing he could do is not, believe me, I suppose.

I take a breath. "I don't think you'll believe me, no one ever does, or if they do, they never take well to it."

"Look, Hiccup...at this point I'll believe anything." He tells me with a sigh.

"Well... fine, but don't say I didn't warn you," I mumble, before looking at him. "Dagur caught my best friend and I away from my old home. He found out the reason we ran away."

"And what was that?"

I let out a nervous chuckle. Well...here goes nothing. Gods, I'm actually doing this. I take a deep breath and continue.

"H-Here's the bit you won't believe; my best friend is a dragon. I earned his trust, we saved each other." I tell him in a low tone, refusing to meet his eyes. He stays silent. "Well, things were going ok for us. But it was getting hard to hide the secret. Then my people found out, b-banished me. Banished their own heir...but it's ok, though! I-I was gonna leave anyway." I explain, my voice breaking on the last sentence. I'm still not over it. We fall into silence until he finally speaks up.

"C-can we go back to the part where your best friend is a dragon?" Bo asks, seeming confused.

"Yeah. I helped him fly again." I respond casually, grateful he's not pushing the banishment subject.

"You what?" He whispers.

"He's a Night Fury," I add, not answering his question.

"You mean the—"

"Unholy offspring of lightning and death itself, yep."

"O-Oh."

"..."

"..."

Silence fills the atmosphere and I just sit there, not sure if he believes me. I'm too afraid to ask; too afraid to hear the truth. I'm worried I haven't said enough to convince him, so I open my mouth after a moment of silence, and say one more thing.

"I named him Toothless."

Bo's POV

Is this kid for real? Is he mentally insane? Is he trying to screw me over? Because, what in the nine realms, would convince a sane man (boy) to approach a Night Fury of all creatures, and not kill it. He seems genuine, though. Like he, himself, believes it. To be honest, his story is almost too crazy to not believe. And why else would he be here?

We sit in silence, as I run over the facts in my head. Well, to be fair, it would explain how much Dagur has been torturing him. It's just...dragons are wild, crazy, bloodthirsty creatures.

"I named him Toothless." Hiccup's voice makes me jump. I turn to look at him, squinting in slight disbelief and whatever emotion "what the hell?!" corresponds with. This kid for real?

We stare at each other for a full ten seconds, before I can't hold it in anymore, and I burst out laughing.

He stares at me as I double over, clutching the bars for support. Eventually, though, he joins in.

We get a few weird looks from guards walking by, but we don't care, because we end up on the ground, wheezing.

"T-Toothless?! Are you—are you serious, Hiccup?! You...you meet a dragon, for Odin's sake! The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself, and you name it Toothless?!" I spit out, trying to catch my breath. I turn my head to watch him, and he smiles at me.

"Well... he has retractable teeth." He explains with a shrug. I sit up.

"Oh, gods, Hiccup. You're either insane, and I'm an idiot for believing you. Or you're telling the truth, and," I struggle to my feet, "—I've just learnt some pretty evolutionary information."

Hiccup opens his mouth to answer but is cut off by a loud roar. Hiccup is immediately alert, practically throwing himself at the bars.
"Toothless?!" He yells out, hitting the bars. I'm still surprised that there's a dragon on the boat.

"Toothless? Wait... does that mean..." my voice trails off and I put the dots together. There's a Night Fury on the bloody ship. Hiccup ignores me, clutching the bars tightly as another roar rings out. I nearly stumble when he opens his mouth and a gods-damned roar exits.

"T-The Thor?!" I gasp. A growl vibrates up through the corridor, and Hiccup answers with a hiss and a grunt. This boy...he's insane. Is he communicating with the dragon?!

Finally, everything goes silent after a few more respective growls from Hiccup and the dragon. Hiccup turns to look at me, as I stare slack-jawed. He grins. He seems to be more relaxed.

"Toothless says he likes his name." He tells me triumphantly.

I splutter. "I—y-you—w-what?!"

Hiccup just grins, leans against the bars with a relieved sigh as I try to gather my self.
Oh, gods. What the Helheim just happened? What, in the name of the Gods above, did I just witness?!

—————~~~~—————~~~—————~~~~—————
Well, that's the end of the chapter. It was gonna be longer, but I think it's a good place to end it. Ish.

I won't be too active over the next few days. So I hope you have a nice Easter! I've got a couple off weeks of school, haha.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. Bo has found out why Hiccup's so fucking weird. Jk. But you get the point.

Oh, here's a quote:

(Context: we went out for a drive and food at lunch, and were returning in time for our last classes)
My friend (driving): *pulls back up to school*
My friend (driving:
My friend (driving): I know the perfect song for this!
Rest of us: *variants of "oh no"*
My friend (driving): *skips forward to a song*
My friend (driving): *song is called Schizophrenia* *turns up radio*
Rest of Us: ...
My friend (driving) *deep breath*
My friend (driving) *as we pass a punch of students*
My friend (driving): *screams out window*

To be fair, he was right. It was a perfect way to describe school.

🍰 Eat some cake 🍰
(I forgot about that sign off lmao)