His Soul Reflects My Own

(rough draft)

A DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon fanfic by Raberba girl

A/N: This story ought to be a multi-chapter, but since I don't have time to write multi-chapters anymore, I'm going to be writing and posting scenes out of order, and I also may never finish it. Sorry. :/

Also, I know that half the HTTYD fanfiction out there are basically retellings of the first movie. A lot of them are good retellings, but still. Sorry for yet another one. ^^;

This is a modern sci-fi alternate universe. The dragons are mostly in human form, but they still have wings, tails, etc.

Just like in canon, the main pairing is PLATONIC Hiccup/Toothless, with some Hiccup/Astrid romance on the side.

THIS IS WHAT I DID. I stuck all of dragons' dialogue into an automatic translator and then used the results for their speech ._. It works fine if you don't speak those languages; but if you happen to know any of them...just pretend it's fluent, okay? *facepalm* (Ftr, I tried putting the dialogue back into the translator the opposite way - and a lot of the lines ended up the exact opposite of what I'd meant them to be. X'D [For example, something like "I can't kill you" became "I'll kill you."] Whatever.)

o.o.o

Chapter 1 - "This Is Berk"

The attacks often came at night. Hiccup was up late doing homework when he heard the first explosion, and alarms began wailing across the city.

"HICCUP!" he heard his father bellow from downstairs, "STAY INSIDE!" The front door slammed shut before Hiccup could even answer.

Rolling his eyes, the fifteen-year-old dashed around the house drawing the fire-blinds, then, instead of using the tunnel like he was supposed to, he yanked on his boots and ran out into the night, heading for the laboratory down the street.

It was chaos. Soldiers and police were rushing to their stations, shouting for the screaming civilians they passed to get to safety. Hundreds of wing beats sounded from overhead; floodlights were bursting to life, illuminating the sky full of attacking aliens.

Except for the wings and tails, the creatures looked creepily human, but humans couldn't point their hands and gush fire the way these things did. Their flying and anatomy might have been picked apart by scientists, but even after all this time, no one had a real explanation for the fire, other than magic. It was one of the things that made people think that the dragons - nicknamed after fire-breathing creatures from old myths - didn't come from another planet, but must have somehow crossed over from another universe entirely.

"Aaahh!" Hiccup dodged as a wounded dragon crashed to the ground almost right in front of him. It snarled at him like an animal, prompting Hiccup to leap back; a soldier jumped to his side and shot a disruptor point-blank into the dragon's neck. It howled, then fell back with a dazed, unfocused expression.

"Get inside, Hiccup!" the soldier barked at him.

"Y-Yeah, I'm going!" Hiccup ran on, and nearly crashed into a police officer within the first five steps. Hiccup regained his footing and swerved to take a shortcut between two houses. He discovered, upon rounding a corner, that one of the houses was on fire; a man was handing a sobbing little girl out the window to her mother and then scrambling to get out himself. "Anyone else inside?" Hiccup called.

"No, that's all of us!" The man frowned as he recognized Hiccup. "You're not supposed to be out here!"

"I know, I know! I'm going!"

Hiccup eventually made it to the laboratory in one piece, where scientists were rushing around almost as chaotically as the fighters outside.

"Hiccup!" his father's friend Gobber called from the ground floor coding station, "About time you showed up! I thought you'd been blown up."

"Who, me?" Hiccup grinned as he threw himself in front of the closest computer and logged in. "Not a chance. They've got better targets to focus on."

"Yeah, because you're too small for them to even see."

"Ha ha ha." Hiccup sighed and drummed his fingers on the tabletop as he waited for the sequencing program to load. "Now, see, if you guys'd just let me experiment a little and see if I can improve the-"

"Oh no, you already cause enough trouble as it is, we don't need you fiddling around and wiping out our entire virtual defense system!"

"Even if I wanted to, I couldn't destroy the-!"

"Why can't you just do as you're told, Hiccup? You're a great coder. We need you to code, not waste time on crazy theories."

"If I'm such a great coder, how come you guys never actually let me write anything?" Hiccup grumbled. The program was finally up and running, and he settled in for a long, boring night of copying sequences and printing disruptor shots. 'Seriously; we get attacked by magical flying aliens, yet the most interesting part of my night is the walk between here and my house, which is the only time I ever even see them. So not fair.'

Ten minutes later, the lights went out. The surge protectors began screaming, allowing a few minutes for everyone to get their work saved. There was a deep rumbling sound as the backup generator started up.

Then an explosion rocked the building, and everything went completely dark, computers and all.

"Right." Amidst the panicked cries of the other researchers, there was a shuffling sound as Gobber got to his feet. "I'm off to join your dad, then. Stay put, Hiccup."

"Yeah, I'll just hang out here where I'm sooooooo useful."

"I mean, it Hiccup! You are more useful in here, doing nothing, than you'd be if you were outside, where you'd be helping the dragons wreck Berk!"

"You guys talk as if disaster automatically rains from the sky the second I ever set foot outside!"

"Because that's pretty much what always happens."

"It is not!"

"Sorry I don't have more time to chat, but I gotta go. Hold down the fort here, okay?"

"You mean the pitch-dark fort where I can't see my hand in front of my face or take a step without falling over?"

"Yep, this one. I'm off!"

Hiccup listened to him go. Then he stood up, took the pocket flashlight from his belt, turned it on, and made his way to the storage room where he'd been keeping his latest invention for just such an opportunity as this.

xXxXxXx

Chapter "New Tail"

xXxXxXx

The dragon was probably starving... He was so busy gobbling down food that he barely seemed to notice Hiccup creeping behind him to fiddle with his tail. Hiccup approached the job with extreme wariness at first, spooked by every small movement and stealing frequent glances to check on the dragon's reactions. However, when it became clear that Hiccup was going to accomplish nothing by being too hesitant, he finally resorted to sitting on the tail to keep it still enough for him to attach the replacement fin.

Even Hiccup was surprised by how perfect the match was. He spread the prosthetic, comparing it to the organic fin opposite, and felt a little glow of pride to see how close the designs were. 'Don't count your chickens before they're hatched,' he reminded himself. 'Still have no clue if this thing will actually work.' He looked up at the dragon, and froze. Toothless was crouching utterly still, staring at him with an unreadable expression. "Uh...yeah, so, don't mind me back here; I'm just, uh..." Hiccup staggered clumsily away.

Toothless flipped the end of his tail up into his hands to inspect it, frowning as his ran his fingers down the connecting rod and across the brown fabric. "Ọ bụ ọdụ?" he murmured to himself. "Aghọtaghị m, didie ke enye odu...?"

"Ummm...so, yeah, I kind of need to...work on your wings now..." Hesitant again, Hiccup approached and reached out to touch the closest wing. Toothless instantly folded it in close and hissed at him. Hiccup winced. "Toothless...come on." He held up his equipment as if it could explain itself. "It's all right, buddy, I'm not gonna hurt you."

Toothless continued to glare.

Keeping his eyes fixed on the dragon, Hiccup moved close again, took hold of the edge of the wing, and tugged. It didn't budge. Frowning, he pulled harder. A minute later, he was yanking as hard as he could in frustration, as Toothless kept giggling and sidling out of his reach as if he thought it was a game.

"Toothless! Come on!" Hiccup finally picked up the jar of medical sealant and brushed a glop of it over his own arm. "Look, it won't hurt you, see?" Hiccup waved the jar in the dragon's direction. Toothless finally sighed and grudgingly extended the wing.

It soon became clear that Hiccup was not going to be able to work like this. Even if Toothless had stayed still (which he didn't), it was impossible to do the sort of work he needed to do without the wing being braced flat against something. "Okay...Toothless, I'm gonna need you to lie down."

There was no response. Hiccup pushed at the dragon's shoulders, and when Toothless simply sat there and frowned at him, Hiccup demonstrated. "Lay down like this, all right?"

Toothless just looked at him, idly twitching his tail.

Hiccup sighed, sat back up, and pushed at the dragon again, hard. Toothless barely moved, and finally started to growl at him. 'Why do I have to be such a weakling?' Hiccup thought in frustration. "Just lie down, Toothless! I promise it won't hurt if you just cooperate!" He gave one last shove.

Toothless suddenly flopped down, startling Hiccup so that he almost toppled down on top of him. He managed to catch himself in time, but then he gasped as he felt the dragon grip his hips tightly, both thumbnails pressed right up against the flesh of his stomach hard enough that Hiccup could barely breathe. He stared down at Toothless. The dragon lay there with a defiant expression as if to say, "You wanted me on the ground, so here I am."

"Toothless," Hiccup choked out, "let go..."

Toothless didn't move. Hiccup finally realized that the dragon, deciding to let himself be vulnerable to a human, was now taking precautions to make sure he wouldn't be exploited. No doubt he was strong enough to pierce straight through flesh and drag out an organ or two before Hiccup could cause much damage. "Aaarrgghhh..."

Hiccup had intended to perform this operation from above the wing where he'd be at an ideal angle. Instead, he had to do it in the exceedingly awkward position of straddling the dragon's waist, stretched out uncomfortably in order to reach the injuries, with claw-like nails painfully poised to gut him the second he made a mistake. "Wonderful...man, this is just...so not what...argh."

Couldn't be helped. Hiccup drew in a lungful of air, trying to find a breathing rhythm that didn't hurt, then leaned down to get to work. He had to smooth out the wing several times before Toothless stopped resisting him. "Toothless, keep it still, it has to be as flat as possible."

He was soon so absorbed in his work that he forgot to notice both the pain and Toothless's intense, worried stare. Hiccup used a small brush to gently clean the area around the first tear, then drew out a sheet of synthetic skin. He laid it over the wound and applied sealant all around the edges, taking his time and frequently re-smoothing the synskin so that it wouldn't wrinkle, yet wouldn't be too tight after the sealant had dried. When he finished treating the largest tear, he moved on to the next. He noticed absently (and gratefully) that although Toothless still held him warily, the dragon's grip had relaxed a bit so that it no longer hurt to breathe. "Just hang in there, Toothless, we're almost done with this wing..."

When it came time to move on to the next wing, Toothless sighed, but submitted to the treatment more willingly than he had the first round. By the time Hiccup got him to turn over on his stomach so that he could seal the opposite sides of the tears, Toothless had stopped bothering to hold Hiccup hostage and now looked almost bored as the human worked. Hiccup was greatly relieved to be able to work from a more ideal position this time. "That's it, just a little more, bud...almost done..."

When Toothless was finally allowed to sit back up, he shook his entire body like a dog and then flapped his wings several times, looking pleased.

"There. How's that, huh?"

Toothless gave him a little grin.

"Good. So, uh...now that the easy part's over, let's get to the hard part..." Hiccup cautiously reached for the chip behind the Night Fury's left ear.

The dragon's reaction was instant - he snarled, snapped his teeth at Hiccup's hand, and fled.

"Toothless!"

Hiccup spent the next hour chasing him around the storefield. When Toothless finally found refuge in a niche too high for Hiccup to climb to (not that he didn't try), Hiccup was forced to give up. "Well, this whole trip was completely and totally useless..." he grumbled as he headed back home.

xXxXxXx

Toothless wasn't waiting for him as usual the next afternoon - at least, not out in the open. Hiccup, wandering around the storefield calling Toothless's new name, gasped when the dragon finally pounced on him from behind. Toothless yanked the food out of his hands and retreated to eat it, glaring at him the entire time.

'Well, aren't we off to a lovely start...' Hiccup took a deep breath. "Toothless, we've got more work to do today."

Toothless growled softly.

"Toothless. Hey." Distraction wouldn't work this time, since the dragon's attention was still fixed on Hiccup despite the food. Hiccup decided he would have to wait until the dragon finished eating. As Toothless was peering into the basket, looking for more, Hiccup slipped up beside him and reached for the chip again.

In an instant, Toothless had seized his wrist, holding it immobile. Hiccup automatically brought up his other hand in a defensive gesture, and Toothless seized that, too. He growled.

"Toothless, I promise, I will not hurt you."

"Kedu ihe ị chọrọ? Kedu ihe ị chọrọ? Aga m egbu gị ma ọ bụrụ na ị na-agbalị merụrụ m, mmadụ."

For a while, they were at a stalemate. Then, Toothless, mistaking Hiccup's growing boredom for acquiescence, let go of him. Hiccup gritted his teeth and reached for the chip again.

Toothless snarled and seized him, gripping both of the human's wrists in one hand and wrapping the other around his throat.

"Toothless," Hiccup gasped out, "I'm trying to help you, please...!" The fingers were squeezing, cutting off his breath. "Toothless..."

Just when he'd decided that the dragon really was going to strangle him to death, Toothless suddenly released him, only to throw him to the ground, kneel over him, and grip his head in both hands. Hiccup felt a rapidly growing intense heat and realized that he was about to get his head blown off. "Please! Toothless...!"

The moment held. And held. Hiccup knew it didn't take nearly this long for a dragon to fire; was Toothless hesitating again? He swallowed and licked his lips. "Toothless, listen to me. I'm trying to help you. I-"

Toothless's hands abruptly grew cool. He braced them on the ground on either side of Hiccup's face and leaned in very close. "M ike igbu gị. Oge ọ bụla m na-agbalị, ihe akwụsị m. Ma, ọbụna ma ọ bụrụ na m ka ị na-ebi, m ga-ekwe ka ị ize m, mmadụ."

Hiccup listened helplessly, unable to understand a word the Night Fury was saying. "Toothless." He reached up to rest his hand on the right side of the dragon's face, opposite the chip. "Please trust me. Please."

Toothless removed his hand, got to his feet, and walked away.

"Toothless!" Hiccup scrambled up and hurried after him. "Toothless, you don't have a choice! Unless I can get you to fly again, you are trapped in here. With no food. I'm the only thing keeping you alive right now, don't you understand that?!"

The dragon simply glared at him.

Hiccup reached for the chip again, without hesitating this time. Toothless grabbed his hand. Hiccup reached with his other hand. Toothless seized it, too - then twisted Hiccup's arm with terrifying ease, making him scream. Fighting the pain, Hiccup met the dragon's eyes and refused to look away until Toothless finally let go. Once again, Hiccup reached for the chip, only faltering a little bit when Toothless gripped his throat again. He kept reaching until his fingertips finally, finally came to rest on the tiny knob just beneath the dragon's skin.

Toothless bared his teeth and squeezed harder, but for the first time, Hiccup realized that his expression was one of fear, not anger. The whole thing would be moot if Hiccup passed out or died, but either way, he couldn't bring himself to hate this dragon.

Then Toothless let him go.

Hiccup just stood there for a while, maintaining his connection with the chip but focusing mostly on trying to get his breath back. Toothless's narrowed eyes were fixed on him the entire time. Then Hiccup reached to gently turn the dragon's head so he could see better; Toothless fell back entirely, trying to back away. Hiccup was obliged to follow him as he tried to hold on. "Toothless, it's okay-"

Toothless backed right into a tree and gasped in surprise; then, when Hiccup still refused to back down, he pressed the side of his face against the rough bark, unable to get away from Hiccup any farther than that, and finally squeezed his eyes shut.

"I know you're scared, buddy, I know you're scared," Hiccup murmured, gently brushing locks of the dragon's black hair out of the way and then very carefully nudging the chip into receiving mode. Toothless whimpered. "I'm not going to hurt you...I promise, I'm not going to hurt you..."

Of course Hiccup had never seen a Night Fury chip before. It was a little different than the ones he was used to working with, but similar enough that he thought he would still be able to do this without making any mistakes or causing any damage. "Okay...let's see what we've got..."

The security level was shockingly low. After he'd taken far less time than he'd expected to hack through it, Hiccup wondered if it was a trap. But a quick scan showed that nothing had gone amiss with his own files, and he wondered if perhaps Night Furies were so dangerous that it was assumed they didn't need a high level of security. "Okay...so now, flying sequence, where's the-" He froze when the first thing he came upon was the kill record instead. He looked at the numbers and swallowed. Then he very carefully closed the file without touching it, and continued searching for the one he needed. 'He's a Night Fury. Of course he's... Of course he's deadly. He...just because he's been kind...sort of...to me, doesn't mean he-'

The flying sequence was completely shot. Only a few scraps of code at the edges were still readable, and Hiccup was afraid to even touch them for fear of what the attached corrupted data might do to Toothless in his agitated state. Hiccup couldn't afford to take anymore risks than he had to. "Okay...okay, so we'll just quarantine this here...there we go, and then...you ready, Toothless? This is the new one, here it comes..."

Toothless reached up in a panic to grip Hiccup's shoulders as the new flying sequence was uploaded, but he didn't make a sound and he didn't move other than that.

"It's okay, Toothless...it's okay, bud, it'll be okay..."

Upload complete. Hiccup felt breathless with triumph as he carefully closed everything, nudged the chip back into standard mode, then stepped back with a huge smile on his face.

"AKPỌRỌ GỊ M ASỊ!" Toothless screamed at him, and fled to his niche.

Hiccup's smile turned wry as he watched him go. "Okay...no flying today, I guess..." He sighed and scratched his head. "Fine, I'll give you some time to get used to it." He raised his voice. "But we ARE flying someday, Toothless!" His voice fell to a mutter. "Because you can't stay in here forever..."

xXxXxXx

The second Hiccup stepped into the storefield, a blow sent him reeling. He was seized before he could fall and then struck again, and he finally registered the dragon gripping the front of his shirt with one hand, the other hand rearing back for another punch.

Hiccup had already thrown his hands up over his face in defense. "Wait, Toothless-!"

Toothless shook him. Then he threw him to the ground, and Hiccup tried to scramble away; Toothless seized the back of his shirt and jerked him halfway back to his feet, dragging him past the reservoir. Then he threw him down again.

"Toothless, wait, wait, please...!"

Toothless knelt, planting a knee on Hiccup's chest to pin him. Hiccup cried out in pain and struggled, but of course the dragon didn't budge. "Amaghị m ihe mere m anabataghị gị. Amaghị m ihe mere na anaghị m nnọọ igbu gị. Ị bụ onye na, egwu mmadụ. Gịnị mere unu bụrụ naanị nkịtị otú ahụ ka m nwere ike igbu gị?"

Hiccup was gasping for breath. As beatings went, this was pretty tame compared to what Snotlout and the twins often put him through, but of course it still wasn't fun. "Toothless, please, I- Is this about the flying sequence? I, I know it-" He finally noticed that Toothless looked a bit battered himself. He was covered with scrapes and dirt and bruises, and his hair and strange clothes were disheveled. "Tooth-?"

"Kedu ihe ị chọrọ?!" The dragon seized Hiccup and shook him a little, which was painful since his knee was still pressed into Hiccup's chest. Tears began to leak from the corners of his eyes.

'Dragons can cry?!' Hiccup thought in astonishment.

Then Toothless let him go. But instead of moving away, he knelt over Hiccup and leaned down close with his neck stretched out. "Dị nnọọ igbu m." He closed his eyes. "Kwụsị otụhọde m; biko dị utịt a nhụsianya."

After a moment, Hiccup cautiously put his hands on the dragon's shoulders and pushed him away. Toothless sat back and watched dully as Hiccup dragged himself to sit upright. "Toothless...have you been trying to fly while I was gone?" The Night Fury didn't so much as twitch in response. "Toothless..." Feeling sad, Hiccup took hold of the dragon's hands. They lay limply in his own. "Toothless, it- I can't, I'm not one of your own technicians, I barely know what I'm doing. All I know, I learned from people who had to piece everything together from what we've- From you guys." Even though Toothless didn't seem to understand his language, Hiccup couldn't bring himself to say aloud that other dragons had been experimented on and killed in the very same laboratory where Hiccup worked every day. "I- I don't know how to fix your chip for real. And I just, I just want to say that I'm really, really sorry for shooting you down in the first place."

Toothless continued to stare at him in that resigned, uncomprehending way.

"Toothless..." Hiccup gently set his fingertips against the dragon's chip. Toothless closed his eyes but didn't move. "I...I can help you fly if...if you give me access to this thing. I think I can do it- I'm sure I can do it, if you give me a chance. I just...I don't know how to fix it for real, bud. I'm really, really sorry."

"Na-eme ka ị na uche," Toothless murmured.

Hiccup climbed to his feet, then tugged until Toothless stood up, too. "Okay...okay, just let me get the first aid kit and clean us up a bit, and of course you'll be wanting lunch...then we can give this another shot." He smiled hesitantly, but the dragon's expression did not change. "Agh, Toothless, please don't hate me..."

Toothless's mood seemed to improve once he'd eaten. Though he hissed at the sting of the antiseptic, a few minutes later he actually purred like a cat and stroked his face against Hiccup's arm as Hiccup tended to his small injuries.

"Heh...cut it out, I'm trying to work here..."

At last came the moment Hiccup had been waiting for. Human and dragon stood facing each other, Toothless watching him warily. "Okay, bud. It's, um, gonna work like this, I guess, because I can't figure out any better way to do it. I tried it with a remote, but the range is too short..." Hiccup stepped closer and slowly put his left arm around the dragon's neck so that he could reach the chip. Toothless growled at him a little, but didn't resist. "Okay..." Hiccup nudged the chip into active mode. Toothless craned his head in a vain effort to look at it. "Okay...Toothless..." Wincing at, yet again, how awkward this was, Hiccup wrapped his other arm tightly around Toothless to cling to him.

Toothless stared at him. "Nso ke ibe ya na ị na-eme?"

"Okay, Toothless. So, um...fly."

"..."

"Like, now."

"...Ara mmadụ. Na na-eme ka ọ bụla uche."

Hiccup sighed. Then he shifted his fingertips to activate the flying sequence.

Toothless gasped.

"Yes," Hiccup murmured. "Try it again. But you have to keep-"

Toothless spread his wings and started to fall into a crouch. He gave the clinging Hiccup an annoyed look.

"Toothless don't drop me don't drop me you need-"

Up. Hiccup couldn't help yelling, and instinctively tightened his grip; then he had to remember that he couldn't cling with his left hand, he had to concentrate on maintaining the flight controls. "Aaaahhh...!"

The upper boundary. Toothless braced himself to break through. Hiccup gritted his teeth and poised his fingers, getting ready. He was very pleased to find that even though Toothless seemed to blank out for a second from the effect of the crossing, the flight itself remained steady. "Yes...!"

Toothless shook his head and opened his eyes to find himself free of the storefield for the first time in days. He stared around. His ears perked up. Then he looked at the human clinging to him, desperately trying to maintain their hover, and Toothless frowned. He took hold of Hiccup and yanked him away.

"TOOTHLESS, NOOO...!"

Without Hiccup to keep the flight sequence running, both boys began to fall out of the sky. Toothless shrieked in horrified confusion; by a complete miracle, Hiccup's flailing hands managed to catch hold of the dragon's tail as he plummeted. Toothless screamed again, this time in pain and fury, and flapped his wings mightily to slow their fall. Then he hit the storefield's upper boundary and blanked out again; dragon and human crashed into the reservoir together.

Their fall had slowed enough to where Hiccup wasn't injured even when he hit the bottom of the tank, but it still hurt, and it was a struggle to get back to the surface. Then he had to thrash his way over to the dazed Toothless and drag him back to solid ground.

Toothless blinked back to full consciousness. He looked at Hiccup, soaking wet and shivering beside him. He looked around at the storefield where he was once again trapped. "AKPỌRỌ GỊ M ASỊ!"

"We did it! We did it! Of course there's a bunch of kinks to iron out, but for a first run, that was awesome! We flew!"

Toothless snarled at him and rushed off to his niche to sulk.

"Awesome awesome awesome, now if I can just get more data to add some more functions and fine-tune the controls..."

o.o.o

Author's Notes: I've been working on the next (and hopefully last) installment of He's Not Dangerous, but it's more of a pain to write than usual because I'm having to constantly reference the first installment. I was also working on another Welcome To Our World story, but it's difficult to write and feels a little like pulling teeth. Then there's the HTTYD fic I'm working on in one of my notebooks, but that one has bad flow and needs to be typed, anyway; and I also made more progress on Medli's contest prize, but the inking is harder than usual because there are so many dang pencil marks that it's hard to tell which ones I'm supposed to ink. DX Drawing is so hard...

Anyway, so I've been frustrated by all my current projects, and I just wanted to draft something that would flow and be easy, and I've had a lot of ideas knocking around in my head, so I chose this one. :/

Honestly, this story is two separate ideas - there's a random high school AU scene that kept playing through my head that I wanted to write, and had actually intended to write, but it would take place during the Riders of Berk timeframe. I realized that it would fit well in the universe of this plunny, but of course it would make more sense to write at least some of the HTTYD1 stuff first. So I actually started with the most vivid scene in my head, which was "New Tail;" but I figured that, even though I am gonna write and post this fic out of order, I ought to at least write the opening scene to introduce it with, so I also drafted the first part of the first chapter.

Soooo...yeah. As always, this fanfic is a mess. I love fanfiction; I don't have to worry about doing my best, I can just use it as a creative outlet as I struggle with more important projects. ^^;;;;;