CHAPTER 1

Hiccup coughed as he breathed in dusty stale air. All around him rock and dust met his gaze. Behind him he could hear toothless wheezing and coughing on the old air that surrounded them. They had been flying, when the harness had malfunctioned. They had crashed into the side of a mountain, or what had looked like a mountain. It turned out to not be a mountain but an overgrown section of wall in an abandoned temple complex. And now they were lost in the maze or corridors that made up the complex. Moving through the corridors, hiccup coughed again as they passed under a large stone archway. Behind him toothless stopped and began to whine. Turning hiccup sighed. "I know this seems bad. But I'm sure that if we keep moving we'll find our way out." Toothless stood still for a moment before, nodding and stepping in line behind hiccup who turned and continued onward. They were in a room now. Large stone statues towered over them. Each one of the statues had their swords drawn and seemed to be in the process of stabbing a large stone dragon suspended from the ceiling. As they neared the center of the room hiccup stopped and looked around. From his spot he could see no windows, or other ways out of the room. Sighing he spoke. "Well toothless it looks like it's another dead end." Behind him hiccup heard toothless let out a loud roar of frustration. Hiccup had been about to turn when a large gust of wind knocked him off balance.

Falling forward hiccup had to close his eyes as a large plume of dust was kicked up by toothless who seemed to be panicking. She was flapping wildly around the chamber and seemed to be doing her best to go through the ceiling. For the most part she was having little success. But that quickly changed as hiccup felt the chamber shake with the force of toothless's crashes. Hiccup had been about to shout at her to stop when an earsplitting crash shook the chamber. Looking up hiccup dived to the right only to have a large stone brick fall where he had been a few seconds ago. All around him the chamber was shaking and trembling as though it was in an earthquake. Running through the chamber hiccup did his best to try and avoid the dozens of bricks that were now falling from the ceiling. In his panicked state he didn't notice the small step until it was too late. He hit the ground hard. Next to him he heard the sound of rattling glass. Looking hiccup saw a large shelf of glass jars containing some strange dark liquid. But he had little time to look at them as a large brick came down on top of the shelf and sending dozens of jars flying through the air. Rolling away from the shelf hiccup did his best to avoid the large glass projectiles that now threatened to do him bodily harmed. It was all for not as he rolled across the ground he felt white hot pain run over his skin, a signal that he had been cut. Warm blood dripped from his injury, dripping down his arm and giving him a sickly feeling of warmth. His vision was beginning to blur. He could feel himself slowing down. The last thing he felt before losing consciousness was a strange tingling sensation where his arm had been cut.

LATER

Sitting bolt upright hiccup awoke with a start. Sweat dripped from his skin and he could feel himself shaking with fright. As his level of fear decreased he became aware of something. He was no longer in the temple he and toothless had been in. no now they seemed to be in a large pile of rubble that he could only assume was the remains of the temple. Sitting up slowly hiccup rubbed his temples. "owww. Toothless what's the big idea?" "I was trying to get us out, of that death trap." Pushing himself away from his dragon hiccup pointed at toothless. "You just spoke! I understood you! You just spoke!" toothless's eyes went wide. "I can understand you too!" hiccup paused for a moment. "You couldn't understand me before?" toothless shook her head. "Not really. I know a little of human language but not a lot." hiccup opened his mouth to speak but toothless took a step towards him, and jerked her head worriedly. "Hiccup your hurt." It was then that hiccup remembered his cut arm. Sure enough when he put his hand to his arm it came away bloody. But more than just blood stuck to his hand. A strange black liquid seemed to be mixed in with his blood. Vaguely remembering the jars hiccup began carefully taking off his shirt, and wrapping t around the cut. After securing his makeshift bandage, hiccup slowly stood up and noted that the world seemed to be shaking slightly. Taking a tentative step towards toothless hiccup felt his legs tremble slightly before something warm and solid brushed against his side. Toothless had moved and now stood next to him helping to support him. It was a slow process but after what felt like an eternity hiccup was able to climb onto toothless's back and start flying towards the woods on the outskirts of Berk.

After reassuring toothless that he would be fine, hiccup pushed open the door his room and began to treat his injury. That was 1 thing he knew how to do perfectly. He had been treating injuries since he had been old enough to walk. Broken bones, burns, sprains, slashes, you name it he could clean it and fix it, and all with minimal pain to the injured. But even with his skills he had to grit his teeth to prevent him from screaming when he ran his cut arm under some water. Wrapping his injury up in clean cloth hiccup tied his bandage off before putting on a new shirt and walking out of his hut, and back towards the forest. As he walked he tried to act as normally as possible. But this was difficult not only because of his injured arm but because of the strange tingling feeling that seem to be emanating from his cut. He had just cleared the line of sight of the village when he felt the ground shake as toothless emerged from her 'hiding' spot behind a tree. "hiccup?" hiccup nodded slowly. Toothless was silent as she sniffed at his now bandaged arm. After a moment she knelt down next to him. "Get on." Hiccup would have argued but the look on her face made it clear argument would do no good. Sighing hiccup clambered up and a short while later he and toothless arrived at their normal clearing meeting place. Dropping off toothless's back hiccup sat down against a small rock and did his best to resist scratching at his arm which now itched something fierce.

Across from him toothless paced for a moment before dropping to the ground with a 'thud'. She stared at him for a moment with one of her large green eyes before speaking. "What happens now?" hiccup cocked his head in confusion. "What do you mean?" toothless shifted slightly before speaking. "I mean now that you can hear me. What happens now?" hiccup shrugged but winced as he did so. "Why do things have to change? I'm happy….for the most part." Toothless nodded and lay her head against a rock using it like a pillow. "alright." Hiccup opened his mouth to speak but instead shivered involuntarily as a strong gust of wind blew through the clearing. Rubbing his arm carefully hiccup looked up when he heard toothless grunt. "What?" toothless grunted again and jerked her head "move over here next to me. You'll be warmer." again Hiccup didn't argue but moved next to his dragon. After a moment of moving he finally settled down in a space between one of toothless's legs, and her wings. Even before he was fully comfortable he could feel toothless's internal heat beginning to warm him. Yawning slightly it was only then that hiccup realized how tired he really was. Closing his eyes, hiccup slowly let sleep take him,

It would be night time before hiccup would reawaken. For a moment he lay against toothless unable to think of what might have woken him up. He had been about to close his eyes again when he realized what had woken him up, his arm. It burned and itched like crazy. Sighing hiccup slowly got to his feet and made his way over to the small pond that he and toothless often swam in. carefully undoing his bandage Hiccup moved into the moon light so he could better see his injury. His mouth dropped. The cut was gone. Hiccup twisted his arm looking for any sign of his injury. But despite looking for several moment he found nothing, no sign of any injury whatsoever. Rubbing his eyes slightly Hiccup turned slightly and looked at toothless who had lifted her head and was now looking at him. "What?" Hiccup shook his head. "I'm not sure. Hold on." Gathering a small bundle of water reeds and tied them together with a small length of cord. Holding the reeds out; he spoke. "Could you light these for me?" in response toothless let loose a small gout of flame which easily ignited the reeds. Holding the reeds with one arm Hiccup began to reexamine his 'injured' arm. Again he found himself surprised. With the light he could now easily see his arm. Gone was the gash that he had had only hours ago. Instead a dark pigment seemed to have covered the area where his injury had been. Tugging his shirt's sleeve up Hiccup found that the pigment did not only cover the area of his injury but instead twisted across his arm like some kind of tattoo. Twisting his arm around Hiccup soon gave up on trying to make out the form of his 'tattoo'.

Sighing Hiccup tossed the bundle of reeds in the lake and slowly made his way back to toothless who cocked her head at him. "what's wrong?" Hiccup shook his head. "I'm not sure if anything's wrong. But…my cut is gone and I have some kind of tattoo, on my arm." Toothless twisted around and began sniffing Hiccup's arms. After a few minutes she settled back down and wrapped her wings around his fragile frame. "Your arm smells strange." Hiccup yawned, and closed his eyes. "Well we'll be able to look at it better in the morning. For now let's just sleep." Toothless let out a purr of approval and closed her eyes. A few minutes later they were both fast asleep.

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