I Am Dragonblood: Fury's Friend {Book One} (HTTYD Fanfic)

Chapter Three - First Flight

It had started raining at some point on his way back to the village, and he entered the Great Hall dripping wet and cold. As usual he took a seat on the next table along from the other teenagers; Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout, and the twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut (who were squabbling, again). Gobber was there too, giving them all a briefing on dragons. Hiccup only half listened, thinking more of what he was going to do later on. 
   Gobber slammed a book on the table, telling them that it was the Book of Dragons and held everything they needed to know about the beasts. 
   'Wait, you mean read?' Tuffnut said, aghast. 
   'While we're still alive?' Ruffnut added. 
   'Why can't we just kill the stuff the book tells us about?' Snotlout said with a mouthful of chicken. 
   Fishlegs sprang up enthusiastically, almost knocking the bench over. 'Oh, oh! I've read it, like, seven times. There's this water dragon that can fire scalding water and - and—'
   'Yeah, there was a chance I was going to read it,' Tuffnut said, and his sister finished for him; 'but now...?'
   They, including Gobber, filed out into the rain, Fishlegs still chattering about dragons. That left Astrid and Hiccup. 
   'Well,' Hiccup said, coming over to where the blonde Viking and the book were. 'I guess that it—'
   'Read it,' Astrid said shortly, pushing the book to him and stalking outside with her axe over her shoulder. 
   'Ok, just me, then,' he said as the door slammed shut, echoing throughout the hall. He sat down and opened the book, flicking through its yellowing pages. Most of the dragons had "extremely dangerous, kill on sight" underneath their names. Then he got to a page at the back that had only a few words on it. 
'Night Fury,' he read. 'The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage this dragon.' 

***

In the forge Hiccup found just what he needed and he began heating, hammering and shaping metal. After hours and hours of work he had a replica of the Night Fury's tail fin, that hopefully worked. Even though he was almost dropping from fatigue he made his way to the glade, snagging a salmon from a basket on his way. At first he saw nothing in the glade and he thought the dragon had got out, but then he heard a scratch from behind and he spun round to see the Fury approaching, it's sharp teeth gleaming in the morning light. Nervously he held out the fish, but the dragon growled and its ears went flat against its head. Remembering what had happened the day before Hiccup pulled out the dagger, causing it to snarl. He dropped the blade on the ground then, seeing the Fury still wasn't happy, he kicked it into the lake. The dragon sat back on its tail like it had before, watching him. Hiccup offered it the fish again, and this time it came forward, toothless gums ready to snatch the salmon. 
   'Eh, toothless. I could've sworn you had—' suddenly there were teeth where there had been none and the Fury gulped down the fish. '—teeth.'

***

That was the start of a glorious week with Toothless the Night Fury. Bit by bit, Hiccup got closer to him, until eventually they were chasing each other round the glade. Toothless let him put the new tail on him, but he soon found it didn't work. He made a saddle out of leather and, after a lot of chasing, he got it on his new friend and they were away, flying around the glade. Hiccup moved the tail fin using a string tied to his foot, it was unreliable, but it worked. Soon they were out and flying over Berk in the night, the stars bright and the nearly full moon looking down on them. 
   It was on one of these nights that Hiccup felt the tingling in his back and shoulders grow stronger than ever, and he rubbed his left shoulder worriedly. What was wrong with him? He asked Toothless to take him down and they landed on a moonlit seastack, where he slid from the saddle gratefully. For some reason he looked down at his hands and saw a faint pattern of what looked to be scales on them, and he gave a start when he noticed his nails were more like claws. 
   'Whats happening to me?' He asked Toothless in panic. The dragon gazed down at him with concern, and in those wide green eyes Hiccup saw his reflection flicker to a Night Fury then back to himself, then stay as a Fury. He stumbled back as the tingling spread through his body, stealing over him like snow over grass. He crouched, watching the scales form on his hands, his nails become talons. Then the tingling ache turned into white hot pain, making him cry out. It was only for a moment, a millisecond, but it felt like minutes as his bones cracked and muscle stretched. His staring eyes noticed the moonlight was brighter, the scenery sharper, but his mind did not register anything until he heard someone speaking. 
   'What the...?'
   Hiccup turned his head to the sound and saw Toothless staring at him. Slowly he got to his feet, uh, make that four feet. Black scaled, Night Fury feet. He felt a tugging at his back and he looked over his shoulder to see wings, then his gaze traveled further and he saw a tail with fins. It looked like he was a dragon. 
   'Um, Toothless?' He growled, surprising himself with his own, dragonlike voice. 'What just happened?' 
   He wasn't expecting a reply, but he got one, even if it was vague. 'I don't know. You went kind of... Shimmery. Then... Then turned into a dragon.'
  'Okeyyy. Any idea how I turn back?'
   'None at all.'
   Perfect. He was a dragon in a dragon hating village, his best friend was a dragon and now he could speak in dragon language. What could be better?
   There was silence for a few minutes, neither knowing what to do or say. Hiccup eyed the sky, then his sleek black wings. Could he fly?
   'What now?' Toothless asked, seeing the boy turned dragon planning something. 
   'Um, I don't know. I could try flying, I guess.'
   Toothless gave one of grins. 'Yeah, go and crash into some rocks yourself instead of making me do that.'
   'Oh,' Hiccup realised, Toothless couldn't fly. 
   'I'll be fine, I'm stuck here until you figure out how to transform back, anyway.'
   Hiccup gave him a look then walked to the edge of the seastack, it looked a long way down. 'What do I do?'
   'Crouch, open your wings, spring up as high as you can and flap downwards, then try and get as high as you can.'
   Hiccup launched himself off and immediately plunged towards the ocean. He angled his wings up frantically and he shot up, almost stalling because of the steep ascent. He heard Toothless yelling at him to level off, so he did and he glided in a circle. Instinct kicked in then and he found an air current to ride, dipping up and down and loving every second. He roared in delight, and did a backflip which almost sent him spiralling into another seastack. He glided down and stumbled a landing beside his friend, who was grinning at him. 
   'That was amazing!' 
   Toothless's grin widened. 'You wait 'til you fly through the clouds.'

1246 words :D

Thank you all for reading, I know it's not the best, but I try.

≈Flitt