Toothless walked me over to the bench and sat me down, my shoulders heaving with sobs and my chest shaking. "Okay, tell me what happened; how did you get here?"

I took a shaky breath. "M-m-my friend Echogreen and I were--" I choked up and began crying again. Toothless crouched down to my level and took my hands in his."--We were walking through the forest, and, and, Echo fell into a strange pool of water, and I tried to get her out, and I fell in, and--" I began sobbing again. As I shook violently, I felt two warm hands on either side of my face. I opened my eyes, and Toothless was smiling weakly at me. He wiped the tears from my cheeks.

"And that's how you got here."

I nodded violently, tears streaming down my cheeks. I threw my arms around Toothless and sobbed into his shoulder. "I just wanna go home!"

Then, I heard a familiar voice. "Paintsplash!"

I looked up from Toothless's shoulder. It was Echogreen. I felt my cheeks burning as my friend gaped at me and Toothless. "E-Echogreen?," I stuttered.

Echo nodded. "Yeah," she said, "it's me. What's--" She was cut off as another young man approached us. He was gold skinned with huge round eyes of the same color. His hair was blue and was styled similar to Toothless's, and he had a black diamond on his forehead. He had a blue swirl snaking around either side of his neck, and he was wearing a white t-shirt with brown shorts and black sneakers.

I allowed Toothless to help me up, and then I eyed the kid.

"Who is that?," Echogreen asked.

Toothless gestured to the guy in gold. "This is my little brother, Diamondspirit."

Diamondspirit scowled at his older brother. "I'm only two hours younger than you, so shut up," he said.

Toothless grinned. "Yeah, whatever, Golden Joy. You also have like four sisters in between you and I."

Echogreen smirked. "Do y'all act like this all the time?," she laughed.

I giggled through my tears. "Y-yes, Echogreen."

There was an awkward silence for a moment. Echo tried to break it. "So I learned that I was the daughter of Echolocation," she commented casually. Toothless gaped at her, and Diamondspirit stared at her with slight flirtation and envy. I glanced around the circle of people, and honestly, I felt about as understanding as a Gronckle getting yelled at for eating rocks. I had no idea who the heck this "Echolocation" was or why he--or she--was so important.

And the look Echo gave me told me she was thinking the same thing.

"Soooooooooo.....erm....who is she, exactly?," Echogreen said slowly.

Toothless sucked in a sharp breath through his gums. "She...," he sighed in awe, "she was the best headmaster of the academy. She earned respect from around the world, and literally made history with her magic abilities."

"Wait, what?!," Echo exclaimed. Toothless nodded.

"Yes."

"So then that would explain........hmmmm.....," Echogreen started, getting distracted by Diamondspirit. "So....um....that would explain...never mind."

I looked back at Diamondspirit. His eyes were fixed on Echo, and she shifted uncomfortably. Toothless waved a hand in his brother's face. "Dude, quit staring," he said. "Don't you know that's not how to get a girl's admiration?"

Echogreen blushed, and Diamondspirit gave Toothless a distracted glance. "Huh?"

I rolled my eyes and Toothless chuckled. "What?," Echo stammered.

I smiled. "Echogreen, I think you have someone who likes you," I teased. Diamondspirit turned beet red. Then Echogreen blushed, causing Diamondspirit to blush even harder.

There was another awkward silence. Then Toothless, being the joy-bringer he is, grinned. "So...," he drawled. "I guess this is what love is?" He put his arm around my waist and pulled me closer as I blushed hard. Diamondspirit turned bright pink and Echogreen glared at Toothless, her entire face going red. I smiled apologetically at Echo, and Toothless winked at Diamondspirit. "We'll let you two get acquainted."

Then he took me by the hand and walked off with me. I sped up a bit, but in no time I had caught up with him. He slowed his pace so his stride matched mine and squeezed my hand. There was a pleasant silence between the two of us for a while.

"How come you wanna get home so badly?," Toothless said after a bit.

I sighed. "I have too many bad memories from when I was a human."

"Weren't you a dragon?"

"Yes. It's just......it's complicated, Toothless. I just don't wanna be a human again; the memories are like scars. Painful scars that rip into me like....like...."

"Cinderpaw's metal claws....," Toothless said absently, letting his sentence trail off.

"Yes!," I said. Then worry began to eat at my heart. "Why do you say?"

Toothless looked at me, his eyes solemn. "You don't wanna know, Paintsplash."

"Why?," I pressed, though I already knew. "Why don't I wanna know?"

"Don't ask questions you don't wanna know the answers to, Paint."

I was getting frustrated; I wanted to know more. "Why?," I demanded.

Toothless sighed and turned to face me. "So you can stay safe," he whispered.

I decided not to ask any further, and walked alongside Toothless in silence. The sun set in that familiar pace of the future that I had grown accustomed to for sixteen Berkian years. By the time we arrived at the front office, it was twilight.

"I guess I'd better find a dorm," I shrugged. Toothless gave me a small grin.

"Not yet."

He took my hand and pulled me out to the parking lot, stopping in front of an old red truck with that familiar skull emblem on it. I ran my hand over the top of the car, feeling the bumps and spots of rust.

"I haven't been in one of these since..." I bit my lip and refused to think about it, and Toothless sensed that he shouldn't ask.

"This is my old '57 Chevy," he said, beaming with pride. He obviously loved this thing. "My grandpa gave it to me when I got my license." I smiled at him, and he opened the passenger door for me before sliding into the driver's seat.

"Where are we going?," I asked, getting into the old routine of sliding on a seatbelt.

Instead of answering right away, Toothless winked at me. "Ya like milkshakes?"

"I haven't had one in a while, but, yeah..."

Toothless started the car. "Then we're going to the Night Owl Diner."

In about ten minutes, we pulled into the parking lot of an old rundown diner with a flickering neon sign. We got out of the car and Toothless held the door open for me. The diner was empty except for two old men--one of whom looked strangely like Mildew--playing chess, an African American janitor mopping the floor, and a teenage girl with neon green eyes, bluish spots above her eyes, and gray-blue hair.

Toothless slid onto a bar stool, and I took a seat next to him.

"Hey, Toothless," the girl at the counter said. "Black coffee as usual?"

Toothless shook his head. "Not tonight, Ebony."

Ebony! I know her! It's so nice to see that Draco Panthera here!

Ebony eyed Toothless and I. "Toothless, are you feeling okay?"

Toothless laughed. "I'm fine," he giggled. "Just a large vanilla milkshake, with extra whipped cream and two straws." He tossed a five dollar bill onto the counter, and Ebony took it, grinning. She winked at us and grabbed a glass of the counter, turning to the malt machine.

Toothless grinned at me; the fact that he was actually toothless in this world made his smile all the more attractive. I smiled back, my cheeks turning red.

Ebony set the milkshake on the counter and resumed wiping down the shiny stainless steel countertop. Toothless grabbed the straws and stuck them in the shake. I smiled at him and took a sip. I almost gasped at the taste; I had forgotten how good these things were.

Toothless scooped up a bit of whipped cream onto his finger in the middle of a sip and put it on my nose. I giggled, and he smiled at me as I wiped the cream of my nose.

After we had finished, I got reacquainted with Ebony and we left the diner. It was cold outside, so Toothless turned on the heater in the truck as we drove back to campus. It was a quiet drive, as we were both tired. Toothless walked me into the front office, and we got my dorm number. He magically produced a suitcase of what was supposedly my stuff and showed me to my room.

I opened the door to what would be my home for a while. "It's gonna feel weird sleeping on a bed when I've slept on the floor of a cave for so long," I mused to myself. Toothless nodded and laid my "belongings" on the floor.

When he came out, he blocked me from entering the room with his arm. "We're not done here," he said, smiling. I rolled my eyes and stood still.

"We'll figure this out tomorrow, I promise," Toothless said once he had my attention. I nodded and stared at the floor. Toothless noticed my downcast eyes and put a hand under my chin, tilting my head up. He smiled, his eyes flicking across my face. "Did I ever tell you how simply beautiful you are?" I could feel myself blushing. Toothless wrapped his other arm around me and brought me closer. My heart raced, and my eyelids felt heavy.

The next thing I knew, Toothless's lips were against mine, and I didn't exactly want it to end.

But it did.

Toothless pulled away and hugged me.

"Your lips taste like vanilla."