Never Before

For olaf827 

~~~~~~~~~~~

You are both 17

Hiccup's P.O.V

****************

Even after exploring for years, I still enjoyed it. Nothing could replace the feeling of recording something for the first time in history, nor discovering it. There was no equivalent to the feeling of not knowing what you're about to learn next.

So when I found a island filled with at least a dozen dragon species I've never even heard of, I had to check it out.

I felt like I was being followed the moment I hopped off of Toothless, but ignored it. Toothless sniffed the air and seemed alert. He would know if there was any danger. He always does.

"Come on, bud. I'm sure it's just a curious dragon." I walked deeper into the thick forest. Studying and recording the different dragons and their behaviors. Most eyed me, like they had only heard stories of humans from other dragons. Others flew away the minute they realized I was human and nearby. This island was at a significant distance from any village, so it was understandable.

The feeling of being watched, however, never faded. It just grew stronger.

I heard two or so dragons fighting a short distance away, but dismissed it. Dragons fought like siblings. One sounded different from any dragon call I'd heard before. Almost human. I went to investigate after I heard snapping and a human scream of pain. Is there another human here?

I ran to a small clearing where a couple dozen dragons surrounded a dragon and a human girl who was bleeding badly.

The dragon lifted its head, as if to show pride before making its kill.

"No! No," I shouted, jumping between the girl and the dragon. I held my hand out and spoke softly to calm the dragon down. After it looked confused but calm, I turned my head away. The dragon rested its snout against my palm.

I turned to look at the girl staring at me with large (E/C) eyes. She studied me before looking at herself then back at me. She released a short string a growls and grunts. Toothless replied in his native tongue.

"You speak Dragonese?" I asked. "Cool! What's your name?" Toothless gargled something before looking at me and shaking his head no. "She doesn't understand me?" I guessed.

Toothless his head probably to say, "No, she doesn't."

The girl started to move but froze in pain. She took a minute to breath before slowly standing. She lost a lot of blood.

"Here, let me help you," I coaxed, holding out my arms.

Suddenly, a large dragon bounced forward and curled around her, growling at me in a threatening manner. Toothless growled back, stepping up to the challenge.

"No, Toothless. He's just protecting one of his own." Toothless calmed down, but still looked guarded. "Relax, bud."

The dragon wrapped around the dying girl was a monstrous nightmare. He started to catch aflame but quickly stopped, glancing at the girl who was resting against him.

The girl let out this whimper, then a painful growl. The dragon nudged her with his snout when she collapsed next to him.

I rushed forward to help. The dragon caught my advance and stopped it.

"Don't worry. I'm only here to help. I can save her. Just let me help."

I stuck my palm out and turned my head away. A few seconds later, I felt a snout against it. I looked up to find the dragon looking at me with caution. I kept my hand on him as I slowly walked towards the girl.

She whimpered something at him, causing Toothless to cut in and purr something back. The dragons and the girl continued their banter until I knelt in front of the girl. She yelped when I went to get a better look at her wounds and scooted back.

"Shh, no. I won't hurt you. You're safe."

She growled defensively but stayed put after Toothless purred something else, probably about me trying to help.

"There you go. Now I'm just gonna have a quick look and-" I started slowly tending to her wounds when she yelped in pain, causing the monstrous nightmare to growl at me. "No. No. It's okay. It's okay."

I tended to some of her wounds, but the deeper ones I wasn't experienced enough to fix. I needed to take her to Berk.

She was barely conscious, but I did enough to slow the bleeding. Hopefully she would make the four hour trip to Berk. If Toothless sped, it would probably be only two and a half hours.

I carefully climbed onto Toothless with the girl in my arms. "Come on, bud. We need to hurry to Berk." Toothless nodded and shot up, the monstrous nightmare followed us.

The nightmare shot nearby us when we started to fly too fast.

"We have to hurry or she'll die," I reasoned. The dragon still didn't stop, so it took almost three hours to reach Berk, rather than two.

I landed outside of Gothi's hut. Gobber was hobbling out of the hut. "Hi, Hiccup. Whoa. Who's she?"

"I found her on a island. She speaks Dragonese, but she needs help. I did what I could."

"Alright, lad. You go do whatever it is you do. I'll send for you when we're done," order Gobber.

"Will she live?"

"If she doesn't catch an infection, yeah, she'll be fine. Now off with you."

"Alright." I ducked out of the room before meeting the others at the academy. I told them of the girl and of her ability to speak with dragons.

"But she doesn't understand us?" repeated Astrid.

"Nope," I confirmed. "But we'll teach her. She won a fight with a dragon by herself. No weapons. I didn't see much, but she did this weird trick with it. Besides, since she understands dragons but not vikings, she was probably raised by dragons. Meaning she should know a lot about dragons."

Fishlegs squealed. "Oh! You're right! This is such a-"

"Bore!" cut in Snotlout. "Yes, you are."

It barely put a dent in Fishlegs's attitude. "No. This is a great opportunity to learn more about dragons!"

"I know!" I chimed in, also excited. "I wonder if she's ever seen another night fury. Surely, if anyone has, it's her!"

"Oh, we have so much to learn from her!"

"Not if she dies," Tuffnut suddenly said, seemingly bored.

Every one stared at him.

"What?" He went to defend himself. "You did say she was severely injured."

"Yeah," agreed Ruffnut. "What if she dies? Then you won't be able to learn anything from her."

I took a step forward and placed a fist on the opposite palm (like rock in rock, paper, scissors). "We won't let that happen. We can't."

********

The girl woke up three days later, mostly healed. She surprisingly healed quickly, but no one knew why. Fishlegs suggested it was something she was in contact with on her island.

"Maybe," I had agreed. It was the only logical explanation.

However the twins jumped to, "Witch! Witch!"

"She's not a witch," Astrid set straight. "Just different. We can ask her when she wakes up."

"Didn't Hiccup say she doesn't speak human?"

"Correct, kind of." I confirmed. "Anyways, she communicates like a dragon. She didn't seem to understand me when I spoke to her, either. But she might speak a different language."

"I doubt that, Hiccup," Gobber announced, hobbling out of Gothi's hut, where we were waiting. "Too many scars on the poor lass. I think she was raised by dragons. I wouldn't be surprised if she never came across people before."

I nodded. "How's she doing?"

"A few scratches left and that deep gash. She should be fully healed in another week or two, with her healing power."

"See? Witch!" tried Ruff, ready for some action.

"Not a witch. Ain't any magic," Gobber concluded. "No signs of witchcraft, either."

"See? I told you," I gloated.

"Wait. So we're not burning her at the stake?"

"Afraid not," Gobber answered Tuff.

The twins groaned in disappointment.

"Why not go burn yourselves at the stake? That'll be entertaining for the rest of us."

"Not helping, Astrid," I told her. She shrugged, still smiling. The twins were honestly debating on carrying Astrid's plan out. "Don't. No one is burning at the stake."

"Where's the fun in that?" Tuff asked, disappointed.

"It's not supposed to be fun. It's a Hiccup Idea," retorted Astrid, again.

"I'm right here, you know."

"Sorry, Hic. I had to. And your ideas can be very fun. Like when you introduced me to Toothless."

"Eh, that's one way to put it."

"Yeah. That was a bad example."

"Well, you ready for the big news?" asked Gobber. He received a round of yeahs and yeses. "The girl is awake."

"You've been out here for almost five minutes, and you're just now saying this?" I asked, running past him.

"Eh, slipped my mind," he defended.

We all piled in the moderate sized room. It had three beds and chairs and medicine throughout the room. The girl was standing up on one of the beds.

"Thought I told you not to move!" complained Gobber. He wobbled over to her and reached out to pull her down. She growled and hissed before he touched her. "Hiccup, you're the dragon conqueror. You calm her down."

Everyone else agreed and I was roughly shoved forward.

"What?" I turned, but knew I wasn't leaving until either I died or she calmed down. "It's okay, girl. We're not going to hurt you. You're safe here. Dragons and people, alike, are." I then held my hand out, like I would for a dragon, and looked away. Only I felt something sniffing me. I opened my eyes to find the girl taking in my scent. She still growled and stepped back. "Alright, Toothless! Come here, bud." Toothless pranced forward and stopped beside me. He started speaking to her in their native tongue.

She stayed by Toothless's side most of the time (and her monstrous nightmare). She stayed in the guest bedroom at my place with her dragon. We slowly tried teaching her our language, and by the second week, she could say a few basic words and point to the right objects every single time. Despite the language barrier, we still learnt a few things from her.

By the first month, she was fully healed but didn't leave. She had plenty of chances to leave, but never did. I assumed it was because she enjoyed it here, which was good.

By the second month, she was advancing and adapting quickly to our language and ways. Some days, she wouldn't talk to us at all, only to the dragons, but other days she enjoyed many simple conversations.

Come winter, we were trapped indoor more often than not. Only the warriors and hunters went out, and by mid-winter even they stayed indoors. Sometimes the village would huddle at the Great Hall, other times in our separate homes. Either way (Y/ N), as the girl's name happened to be, had mastered speaking and was better than the twins and Snotlout combined at reading and writing. She was about the same level as Astrid.

Maybe it was the little things she did, like tease Toothless in his native tongue, or how much she enjoyed learning (a gift that went well with my love for teaching) or how it worked the other way around when she taught us about dragons, but I found myself liking (Y/ N) before I even knew her name, for she had been known as Girl for the first month and a half of her stay.

Maybe it was how her family was the monstrous nightmare that protected her like Toothless did for me. I asked her about her dragon one day while we were trapped inside.

"My dragon? You mean my mom."

"Mom?"

"I think that's the equivalent. Like your dad but female. Parent, I think is another word you use."

"Yes, as in someone who birthed and raised you. You're human, (D/N) can't be your mom."

"I don't know my birth mother, nor do I care to know. They abandoned me, that much I know. (D/N) raised me. She has always been there for me. As I will always be there from her."

"How old is (D/N), anyways?" I asked.

"Old. She is quite old." She then said something in Dragonese. "But she claims to still be full of youth."

"Well. How old is she?"

She frowned. "Dragons don't necessarily keep track of age, more like how many hatchings you've lived through. Dragons, most species at least, are born around this time. Snoggletog, for you vikings."

"I know," I nodded.

"She has lived through seventy three or so hatchings. I have survived through at least sixteen, maybe seventeen. Again, age doesn't really matter to dragons. Other than younglings."

"How long are dragons considered younglings?"

"Depends on their growth and behavior. I am still considered a youngling, but most are full grown around seven or so hatchings."

"Years. One hatching happens once a year."

"Yes, years," she repeated.

She wouldn't stop saying "years" for two weeks.

Maybe her uniqueness was another thing that drew me in. Maybe it was her laugh, her smile, her accent, her wildness, and a million other things. I don't know what started it, but by Snoggletog, I was certain that I loved her.

"Hiccup?" she asked one early spring day. She had spent the day training with Astrid in the woods. With their sword and axe. I had gotten (Y/ N) a shield like mine and a new sword for Snoggletog. I also sharpened Astrid's axe for her.

"Yes?"

"What is love?"

I chocked on my water. I coughed and cleared my throat before questioning her. "What?"

"Astrid said you love me. I haven't heard this word before. What does it mean? Is it another word for friend? You sure have many words for friend. Dragons only have one."

"No, love doesn't necessarily mean friend. It's sorta like liking someone a lot. Like how a mother and a father would feel about each other. Or how a brother and sister feel towards one another. Not hate, dislike, but love. Like how you love (D/N), but the way Astrid meant was a bit different."

"Oh. I think I get it. Like when humans kiss, right? That's what Astrid meant."

I blushed. "Uh, yes."

"Was she correct?"

"Technically, yes, but-"

"I'm grateful," she interrupted.

"What?"

She turned to look at me. "I'm grateful. Because I feel the same. Dragons have different words for each type of love, unlike you humans, but it makes sense now. Thank you."

"Uh, you're welcome."

She turned and looked at me expectedly. "So?"

"So what?"

"We both confessed, as Astrid calls sit. Now what?"

I chuckled. "It, not sit. And that depends on what you want to do."

"I am no expert in 'love'. Never before has I felt these feelings."

"Have, not has. You're an expert on dragons. What do they do?"

"Dragons mate after they admit their love," she stated.

I backed up. "Humans typically wait a few years before, uh, mating." I was blushing like mad.

She laughed with her eyes closed. "I know. I think humans kiss, am I correct?"

I smirked and walked closer. I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her close. "That you are, mi'lady," I answered, before kissing her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~