Chapter 3

Hiccup was in the dragon training arena once again the next day.

Gobber had set up some kind of maze for the recruits to fight the dragon in, which that day, happened to be the Deadly Nadder.

"Hey, you know, I just happened to notice the book had nothing on Night Furies," Hiccup yelled up to Gobber, who was standing safely above the arena, leaning on the bars. "Is there like another book, or a sequel? Maybe a little Night Fury pamphlet?"

A shot of dragon fire  blasted out of nowhere towards Hiccup, cutting the head of his ax clean off, and making him yelp and jump away from the now burnt wall.

"Focus, Hiccup. You're not even trying," Gobber yelled.

Hiccup finally noticed the dragon standing on top of the walls, and he very quickly started to run.

Hiccup decided then that he needed to pay more attention to his now keener senses. The last fifteen minutes had been filled with the sound of dragon fire, so much so that he had started to drown the sound out. That explained why he didn't register the dragon beginning to build up its gas so much closer than usual.

"Today is all about attack," Gobber yelled into the arena as Hiccup scrambled to get away from the Nadder. "Nadders are quick and light on their feet. Your job is to be quicker and lighter."

Hiccup heard the sound of the Nadder releasing its poisonous spines, followed by the screaming of Fishlegs. Looking behind him, Hiccup confirmed that the dragon was no longer following him.

"I'm really beginning to question your teaching methods," Fishlegs yelled.

"Look for its blind spot," Gobber responded. "Every dragon has one. Find it, hide in it, and strike."

Hiccup continued running, hearing the twins run into the Nadder behind him.

"Ugh, do you ever bathe?" Ruffnut asked, presumably to Tuffnut, and Hiccup could confirm from twenty feet away from them that he did not.

"If you don't like it, then just get your own blind spot," Tuffnut responded.

"How about I give you one?" Ruffnut said angrily, and Hiccup could hear the fire starting to build in the Nadder's throat.

The sound of fire blasting out of the dragon filled the arena, and Hiccup was only slightly disappointed that the smell of burning flesh did not come with it.

"Blind spot, yes," Gobber yelled. "Deaf spot, not so much."

Hiccup realized that he was running straight by Gobber, and skidded to a stop.

"Hey, so, how would one sneak up on a Night Fury?" Hiccup asked Gobber.

"No one's ever met one and lived to tell the tale," Gobber responded, obviously annoyed. "Now, get in there!"

"I know, I know, but hypothetically,"

"Hiccup," Astrid whispered loudly, making Hiccup turn towards her. Astrid and Snotlout were crouched against a wall, covering their bodies with their shields.

"Get down," Astrid said, gesturing for Hiccup to copy their positions.

Hiccup quickly obliged, watching as Astrid poked her head around the corner. By inconspicuously closing his eyes and listening for sound, Hiccup could hear the Nadder letting out quiet growls and anxiously fluttering her wings.

Wait, how could Hiccup tell the Nadder was a girl?

Astrid came back behind the wall for a second, then launched herself forward. Using her shield to break her fall, she somersaulted across the ground to hide behind the opposite wall. Snotlout quickly followed suit, and Hiccup scrambled to follow.

In his hurry, he failed to lift the heavy shield off of the ground as he rolled, resulting in him laying flat against the floor with his arm pinned above him by the shield.

The Nadder squawked, and started to rush at Hiccup.

Hiccup yelped, leaping to his feet as fast as he could and sprinting away. He heard the Nadder flap her wings behind him, and then her feet landing on top of the wooden walls. The Nadder roared, leaping from wall to wall before her claws slammed onto the stone floor.

Behind him, Hiccup heard Astrid yell indignantly, followed by Snotlout making some horrible flirtatious remark and throwing his weapon through the air. Judging by the sound of metal hitting wood and the Nadders unimpressed squawk, Hiccup guessed he had missed.

"Hey," Hiccup yelled up to Gobber as pandemonium erupted behind him. "Don't you think that Night Furies probably take the daytime off right? Like a cat. Has anyone ever seen one napping?'

"Hiccup!" Gobber yelled angrily, making Hiccup turn to look behind him

Half of the maze walls were knocked down, and Astrid fell out of the air above Hiccup, jumping off of one of the last remaining walls.

"Hiccup," Astrid screamed, before landing right on top of Hiccup.

Astrid's ax had impaled itself on Hiccup's shield, and Astrid struggled to get off of Hiccup and get her ax unstuck.

"Ohh, love on the battlefield," Tuffnut remarked, making Hiccup wince.

"She could do better," Ruffnut replied, and Hiccup immediately agreed with her.

Hiccup yelped as Astrid tried to pry her ax out, using Hiccup's face as leverage. Astrid finally got off of Hiccup, pulling Hiccup's shield out of his hand.

The second Astrid stood up, the Nadder noticed her and started charging. Astrid decided that hitting the dragon with the shield impaled ax would be good enough, and she swung her weapon while letting out a battle cry, hitting the poor Nadder so hard that its entire body lurched to the right, and the dragon stumbled off defeatedly.

"Well done, Astrid," Gobber called out.

Astrid angrily turned back towards Hiccup, who was still laying on the ground, covering his head in his hands.

"Is this some kind of a joke to you?" Astrid barked at Hiccup, "Our parents' war is about to become ours. Figure out which side you're on."

Hiccup watched her stalk away, and considered her words. Maybe it was time for Hiccup to find out which side was right.

* * *

An hour later, Hiccup found himself holding a dead fish and a shield, walking towards the cove. He had easily taken the shield from the arena, but the fish held another story.

Hiccup had walked down to the docks, planning to just swipe a fish from one of the fishing baskets, as an offering for the Night Fury. He had figured since the dragon had tried to catch fish from the lake that its primary diet was fish, and not the blood of Vikings as the villagers so often liked to tell stories about. But when he reached the docks, there was this wonderful aroma surrounding the entire place, instead of the usual stink of fish.

Deciding to ignore the change in smell, Hiccup thought that perhaps fish just smelled better with his enhanced sense of smell.

The fish had been easy to take, as expected, and he continued on to the cove as planned. But the smell was even stronger now that he was holding the fish, and he had an overwhelming urge to eat the fish raw, which he knew would probably get him sick.

Hiccup could now see the small crevice in the wall, and walked through it, starting to climb down into the cove once he was on the other side. Once he reached the bottom, he found a doorway of sorts made of two large boulders.

Holding the shield out in front of him, he threw the fish into the cove before looking around and realizing that the Night Fury was nowhere in sight. He started to walk into the cove, but suddenly lurched forward. The shield had gotten stuck between the two boulders, stopping him from being able to walk any further. He gave the shield a couple of tugs, but it wouldn't budge.

Giving up, Hiccup decided to duck under the shield instead. Now inside the cove, he turned to tug the shield a bit more, trying to see if it would move pulling the other way. Nope. Only he could get a shield stuck in a couple of rocks.

Picking up the fish, Hiccup looked around the cove, trying to find the Night Fury. Listening for any sound or movement, he walked along the lake's edge, and turned around when a soft growling noise reached his ears.

The Night Fury was perched up on a boulder, making that thrill speed through Hiccup's body, and Hiccup gasped when the dragon crawled down it. Sniffing the air, the Night Fury stalked closer to Hiccup, who held out the fish. The dragon looked at him with curiosity before crawling forwards, starting his mouth to accept the fish.

Then the dragon tensed up, pinning his ears to his head and letting out a growl. Hiccup flinched, looking to where the dragon was glaring. He pushed his vest aside, his hand hovering over his knife. Hiccup reached to remove the weapon from his belt, but the dragon let out an even louder snarl, his stance making it seem as though he was about to strike.

Hiccup quickly nabbed the dagger and held it away from his body, dropping it to the ground. The Night Fury, with his eyes still pinned on the dagger, motioned his head from the weapon to the lake. Hiccup quickly understood, using his foot to kick the dagger into the lake.

Immediately, the Night Fury's whole demeanor relaxed, his wings relaxing towards the ground, ear flaps lifting above his head, and his pupils growing wide once more.

Hiccup held out the fish again, and the dragon narrowed his eyes, cautiously creeping towards Hiccup. The Night Fury opened his mouth, which Hiccup was shocked to see, was not filled with teeth.

"Huh, toothless," Hiccup observed. "I could have sworn you had-"

Teeth burst out of the Night Fury's gums, who pounced towards Hiccup, snatching the fish from his hands and swallowing it whole.

"Teeth," Hiccup finished.

The Night fury's pupils narrowed again, and the dragon started to move towards Hiccup, searching to see if he had more food. Hiccup stammered, stumbling backwards into a boulder to get away from the dragon, who kept moving closer to him.

"No, no, no," Hiccup stuttered, the dragon's head now inched from his. "I-I don't have any more."

The Night Fury finally stopped moving closer to Hiccup, and a weird squelching sound came from its throat. The dragon opened his mouth and dumped a slimy, half eaten fish into Hiccup's lap.

"Umm," Hiccup said, half disgusted and half confused as to why the fish now smelled ten times better.

The dragon backed away from Hiccup, leaning back to sit on his hind legs, staring at him. Hiccup sat up, staring awkwardly back at the Night Fury. After a minute, the dragon pointedly glanced down at the fish and back towards Hiccup.

Hiccup's eyes shot down to the fish, then back towards the reptile, and sighed once he understood. He was definitely going to get sick from this, but he also wanted to figure out if the fish tasted as good as it smelled.

Hesitantly, Hiccup brought the fish to his mouth, the aroma becoming overpowering, and took a bite out of the fish. Instead of the putrid taste he was expecting, a myriad of flavors greeted his tongue. Eyes widening, Hiccup stared down at the fish in amazement. When his senses became stronger, his taste buds must have changed too, and he just hadn't noticed it until he tried the fish.

Remembering how he had skipped lunch to see the Night Fury, Hiccup greedily gobbled up the fish. As he ate, he suddenly realized that the fish tasted exactly like the flavor that coated his tongue when the Night Fury had shown him visions. What if the things he had seen, heard, smelled, and tasted that night were all memories of the Night Fury? And what did it mean?

When Hiccup finished licking off all of the fish bones, he looked up at the Night Fury, who seemed to give him a knowing look. Hiccup smiled at the dragon, making the Night Fury narrow its eyes at Hiccup. The dragon let out a quiet coo before lifting up his lips to reveal toothless gums, trying to imitate Hiccup's smile.

Hiccup started to stand up, reaching his hand out to touch the dragon's head. The Night Fury took a step back, his pupils narrowing slightly and his teeth unsheathing from his gums. Letting out a small growl, the dragon lurched himself into the air and unsteadily landed on the other side of the lake, successfully getting away from Hiccup.

Watching the dragon fail to fly made Hiccup's heart ache, thinking back to the vision of the endless night sky that the dragon had shown him. If he ever had the chance to experience that feeling himself, that sense of freedom, he didn't think he'd survive if it was ripped away from him.

The Night Fury spun in a circle, letting out a small stream of fire towards the ground before laying on top of the warmth and resting his head on his forelegs. Hiccup started to walk around the lake towards the dragon, and he watched sorrowfully as the Night Fury stared at a bird flying through the air.

Hiccup sat down in front of the dragon, who ripped his gaze from the sky to look at Hiccup annoyedly, curling up on the ground and using his remaining tail fin to block his face from Hiccup's view. Hiccup scooched forwards, reaching out to touch the tail fin.

The dragon suddenly lifted his tail to look at Hiccup accusingly, making Hiccup quickly stand up and walk away from the dragon.

Deciding to stay in the cove, Hiccup sat down on a boulder and watched as the Night Fury sloppily lifted himself onto a tree branch, laying his tail across the branch and hanging from it, wrapping his wings around himself like a bat.

Hiccup stared as the dragon fell into slumber, contemplating how  he was going to help the dragon get back into the air. He could make the dragon a prosthetic, but to do that, he would need exact measurements of his other tail fin, design it so the dragon could control it, and make the thing durable enough to last the rest of the dragon's life.

Was the Night Fury even fully grown? Did dragons ever stop growing? If the Night Fury lived long enough to become a titan wing-which Hiccup had learned about from the book of dragons-the prosthetic would become too small for the dragon, and could even ruin his growing process if he wasn't able to get it off.

All of the thoughts were crowding in Hiccup's head, so he pushed them away, turning away from the dragon and sitting down on a nearby boulder. He saw a stick lying on the ground near him, picking it up and starting to draw the Night Fury in the dirt.

Hiccup heard the Night Fury jump down from the tree and glanced slightly towards the dragon, who had sauntered up to sit next to him. The dragon seemed to be curious as to what he was doing, so he continued drawing, shaping out the Night Fury's eyes and ears, listening as the Night Fury let out curious coos.

The dragon started walking away when his drawing was finished, making Hiccup look towards the Night Fury as he ripped a large branch off of a tree with his maw. Filled with confusion and curiosity, Hiccup watched as the dragon used the end of the branch to draw large lines in the ground, looking back at Hiccup once before continuing his drawing. The reptile seemed to be having a lot of fun drawing scribbles in the ground, and hit Hiccup over the head with the leaf covered part of the branch as he twirled past him.

The Night Fury eventually dropped the branch, standing back to admire his work, and nodded at it in approval.

Hiccup looked at the dragon in confusion. The dragon had nodded, an intelligent human gesture, but had also given that gesture to very clear scribbles, not an actual picture. Though, Hiccup supposed that the fact that the dragon could understand the concept of drawing at all was pretty surprising.

Then Hiccup took a step forward, and the Night Fury suddenly growled. Hiccup flinched, lifting up his foot to see where he stepped, realizing that he had stepped on one of the lines the dragon had drawn. Did the Night Fury think that Hiccup was ruining his drawing?

Testing his theory, Hiccup cautiously set his foot back on the line, and the dragon once again started growling, his pupils turning to slits. Hiccup lifted his foot, and the Night Fury became docile once more.

Just to make sure it wasn't some crazy coincidence, he placed his foot on the line one more time, and sure enough, the Night Fury growled at where his foot was placed.

Hiccup finally lifted his foot off of the line, stepping over it instead, and the Night Fury looked up at him, pupils wide. Hiccup gave the dragon a small smile before starting to make his way towards the dragon, stepping over line after line, having to spin in a circle just to avoid them.

As Hiccup stepped over the last line, he felt a warm breath blow through his hair from behind him.

Hiccup turned around, finding himself face to face with the Night Fury. The dragon was looking at him with wide pupils and raised ears, as though he were expecting something to happen. 

Hiccup looked back at the Night Fury with fear and wonder, starting to reach out his hand to touch him. The dragon moved slightly away from his hand, squinting one eye and letting out a soft growl. Pulling his arm back, Hiccup looked at the Night Fury once more, something deep in his core pulling at him, and he knew what he had to do.

The Night Fury watched as Hiccup let his head turn towards the ground and away from the dragon, closing his eyes. Slowly, as if not to spook the dragon, Hiccup reached his arm outwards, palm open, until he could feel the Night Fury's breath radiating onto his hand.

For a moment, nothing happened, until something smooth and warm touched his palm. Hiccup gasped, and felt a shockwave blow down his arm and all through his body, like the thrill he felt whenever he saw or heard the Night Fury, only ten times stronger. Hiccup could feel the sensation rattling into his very bones, causing him to open his eyes and look up at the Night Fury.

The dragon's head still rested against Hiccup's palm, but Hiccup gasped at what he saw. A blue light was running down the center of the Night Fury's face, and the light was melting onto Hiccup's arm. Looking down, Hiccup realized that his entire body was glowing blue, and as he looked back up at the dragon again, the world around him was shrouded in blue.

All Hiccup could see was that glowing blue, and the thrill that was rolling through his blood turned into something different, something familiar. It was like seeing the sky folded out before him, like wind blowing through his face, like a sense of rightness, something that he had been searching for his entire life, but could never find.

The blue finally dissipated, and Hiccup opened his eyes to see the Night Fury staring at him, the dragon's blue now gone too.

Something about the world around Hiccup seemed strange, different. His senses were still amplified, but they seemed to fit together better, like they were all pieces of a puzzle that didn't connect until then.

It was like he had eyes all over his head that could see really far away. Hiccup felt as though he could clearly see the trees rustling behind him, and two sparrows flying through the sky above him.

Hiccup looked up at the sky, and sure enough, two little birds were dancing through the sky.

But as he was bringing his eyes down to look at the Night Fury again, something behind him caught his eyes. Hiccup hadn't noticed it before, but there was now a weight hanging off of his upper and lower back, a weight that he felt as though he had been missing for his entire life.

As Hiccup looked behind himself, he felt new muscles contract against his back, and gaped in astonishment when he saw why. Protruding from his back, now fully extended behind him, were a pair of scaly pitch black wings.