Would this be the end of my crazy adventure?

I scratched my temples, I had been sitting in the same spot for a while now. What was I supposed to do? It isn't like I could just magically make the missing tailfin reappear, even Gothi, couldn't pull that off.

How difficult would it be to fly with just one fin, would it even be possible? Maybe with a counter weight?

Nah, that is stupid...

A couple of hours had passed in what seemed like nothing, it was starting to get late. I looked over at Toothless who hadn't moved ever since we came here. It dawned on me that this night was going to be my turn to get us something to eat. I had almost gotten used to the many regurgitated fish the dragon provided me with. It used to disgust me, but after thoroughly cleaning them it's not that bad.

What had become of me, I looked down at the cove's water in front of me, my reflection greeting me. I didn't really look like how I remembered myself looking. My hair was pretty long and messy, my clothes filthy and torn.

I would go to Berk tonight. And I don't mean just walking into the village, I had way too much to explain for that. No, I would have to make sure to remain unseen.

Berk is pretty messy, it wouldn't be difficult for me to not get seen. And I had one mayor advantage: because of the recent dragon raid a lot of Viking probably slept in the great hall because their homes would not be suitable. Combined with the fact that most of the villagers would be tired from working all day repairing the damage, meaning they will probably not stay up very late. And even if someone saw me, I might be able to play it off as proving myself in the wilderness, a lot of Vikings have done so at some point.

If possible I would get some new clothes, but my main focus was to collect some food for me and Toothless. Speaking of which, I actually have no idea how much Toothless eats, assuming eating is what she does when she is not around.

I stood up, my legs sore from sitting way to long, and walked over to the pitying dragon. Toothless did not react to me approaching, which is strange, the dragon is usually very alert and even the slightest sound I make is acknowledged with a little flick of her ears among other signs, but as stood next to her, it seemed as if she hadn't noticed me at all.

To get her attention, I placed my hand on the base of her left wing, but got no response. By her breathing I knew she was sleeping, but even during sleep the dragon was very aware of her surroundings. I felt a little guilty waking Toothless up, but I think I would be better than just leaving for Berk unannounced, who knows what could go wrong there.

I gently shook Toothless a little to wake her up, and wake up she definitely did.

-swoosh-

In the flick of an eye I was pushed against the ground a confused looking Toothless holding me down.

"Woah, calm down", I said voiceless from the tremendous amount of pressure on my chest. "Just me bud"

Toothless's pupils dilated to their normal size making her look a lot less scary.

"Need… breath"

I gasped for air as the heavy dragon lifted her paw from my chest.

"What was that all about?" I inquired more angry than meant. Toothless looked down guiltily, making me in turn feel ashamed by my sudden outburst. However, let's be fair, it is not every day you get thrown to the ground by a dragon about ten times as heavy as yourself.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have bothered you Toothless", I apologized. "Anyway, I'm leaving for a little bit".

"Remember my stories about Berk?", I asked Toothless getting a nod in return. "I'm going there bud, I'm going to get us something to eat"

Toothless was not at all happy with that idea, evident by her immediately (but without pressure this time) using her paw to pin me to the ground again making a noise which I had come to understand as no.

I put my hand on the offending paw.

"I will be alright, I promise. I will be back within an hour. Don't worry you're not the only one who's good at being sneaky", I argued, getting an unimpressed look from the dragon.

"Sneaky for a Viking I mean"

I had arrived at the edge of the forest, later than planned. The forest had proven to be really difficult to navigate with the little light left.

Sitting at the forest edge I scanned the village. Berk looked familiar, but it felt like I hadn't seen it for years. How long had it actually been? 40, maybe 50 days?

The dragon raid had been a big one, evident by the large amount of damage the town had. It had definitely received a good beating.

My dad's house was the closest to me, it is the highest house of the village, it being Viking tradition to have the chief's house overlooking the town. I felt an urge to go inside. What would have been done to my room? Was it a new arsenal for my father's many weapons. Would some of my stuff still be there?

Further down the village was the smithy, it was not directly visible from where I was, but the smithy could be easily spotted with the furnace releasing a lot of blackish smoke.

My eyes teared up a little, the smithy bringing back some of the sparse fond memories I have of Berk. The best times of my childhood had been in and around the smithy, Gobber letting me experiment, help and learn. Heck he had even given me my very own room in the back to work out my silly ideas.

The limping one legged blacksmith had been more like a fatherly figure than my actual dad, who was always too busy to take care of me. Limping… Gobber had lost his leg a long time ago and replaced it with a simple "peg leg" and even though he didn't walk perfectly ever again he could get around just fine.

Could I fabricate prosthetic a tail fin? I mean Toothless still had one tail fin, I could just mirror that one. But how would I make that any more than just a sad piece of leather hanging from the dragon's tail? Sure, the shape would not be impossible to mimic, but it would have to stay on, be sturdy, be controllable. Heck it should be better than the original.

And I did promise Toothless I would find a way to "fix" her.

The biggest challenge would be finding some way for Toothless to control it herself. It was probably going to be a lot more complicated than Gobber's simple peg leg. And even if I really decided to make a prosthetic, the only place I could get the appropriate tools is, well… here in Berk. And let's face it I would have to steal that too.

Even without him knowing Gobber was helping me… like always. And now I was going to steal from him.

But what else could I do besides trying to make a prosthetic? It's not like I could wish the tailfin back. And living in the forest of Berk for the rest of my life was definitely out of the question. The only other way to get out of here was to steal a boat and just run off.

Why couldn't things just be easy for once, heck I should have just left this cursed island forever, but noooo, here I am again, stranded, having to break into my father's village to steal materials so I can allow Berk's greatest enemy to fly again. It sounds insane just thinking about it.

My stomach rumbled. Right and I was going to steal food too.

Most of berk's food supply is stored in the great hall, as it's the easiest to defend there, but it could not hold Berk's entire winter supply, The winter supply is stored in multiple medium sized storage buildings scattered over the village. One reasonably close the my old home which in turn was easiest to get too, but with my newfound plan of making a prosthetic I would need some tools among other things, so a visit to the smithy was also on the list.

I uttered a quick prayer to Odin, just in case he was actually listening for once, but I doubt the Viking god would help me after teaming up with the enemy.

Well here goes nothing.

Getting to the smithy had proven to be a piece of cake. Most of the people where probably asleep and whoever was still up had no reason to suspect me running around.

The smithy was dark, the only light inside probably coming from the dying furnace.

I entered though the back door, a familiar warmth… well pretty extreme heat, welcoming me. After quickly checking for signs of Gobber, I went into the tiny room that used to be set aside for me. It didn't even have a door, but just a single curtain obscuring it from view. Inside, it looked like not even a single speck of dust had moved, it was precisely how I left it.

The first thing that caught my eye was my bola launcher design, I felt goosebumps appear on my arms, someone had used it, a contraption by Hiccup the Useless was used and had worked, ironically probably saving my life.

Originally I wanted to take some of Gobber tools with me, but looking around at my designs, maybe having a plan on paper first would be better, and with a plan I would only have to come back once more to get the tools.

Taking the largest ruler I could find, some pencils and some paper, I rushed out of the smithy. I was already going to be late, no need to waste more time.

Now for food. I had planned to take as much as I can carry in the hopes that Toothless doesn't eat too much and we will be able to plan the rest of this mess out without needing to worry about having something to eat.

I decided to take one basket with food from the storage closest to the forest edge and coincidentally closest to my fathers house, with the baskets being pretty hefty and making me a lot easier to spot, it was good to be able to quickly move inside the forest.

The shed used to be securely locked, but alas this one had not survived the dragon raid. Where once was a door, now was a gaping hole. However the dragons luckily didn't have the time to clean out the entire shed before flying off, so with the damage already done, who would notice some more supplies disappearing, or…. well, an entire basket?

I looked around for anything other than fish, but sadly this storage unit did not have anything else.

I tried lifting one of the remaining full baskets, but the weight proved to be way too much. With a long road back ahead of me and less than ideal walking conditions, I would have to take less. So I instead opted for a lighter basket.

I threw my items from the smithy on top of the fish and closed the basket before making my way to the forest edge. The way back through the forest was though, the basket was cutting into my shoulders and weighting me down a lot. And it didn't help that nothing looked familiar.

Luckily I had a general sense of the direction to the cove.

I couldn't help but feel slightly guilty for the fish I stole. The fishers of Berk were some of the hardest working folk around and food is pretty scarce if you take the average size of a Viking in account. Makes you wonder why the tribe never moved away from this dragon infested, cold piece of wet rock.

Entering the cove I dropped the heavy basket at the entrance, my shoulders feeling relieved. I looked over to where I last left Toothless, but she was no longer there. Huh, strange. Looking around, I couldn't see her anywhere.

Did she leave? Or…

I heard a rustling to my left, I tried to move, but my body refused.

I expected to be tackled by the dragon -something she had a lot of pleasure in doing at random times-, but not this time. With a thud Toothless appeared next to me.

"Hey bud"

Toothless had a worried look on her face and before I could protest I was being analyzed from every angle.

"Toothless please, I'm okay"

"Look I even still have all of my fingers see?", I said as I gave her a scratch behind her ears.

"You should have a little more faith in me"

I walked back over to my basket of goodies and picked it back up, Toothless close behind me. I couldn't remember the last time I was this hungry, I would almost consider eating uncleaned regurgitated fish.

With a light jog I made my way to the small cave that was our temporary home.

I signaled toothless to light the pile of woods I had set aside for a camp fire. Which she did using a continues stream of blueish plasma. It is always really cool and kind of unnerving to see the Night Fury use her blasts, something she actually does rarely.

From the basket of fish I took a small cod and a haddock for myself, I glanced over at Toothless, who didn't seem all that interested in the fish and had found a cozy spot next to the fire.

I moved the basked closer to the fire so I wouldn't have to carry the dead slimy creatures. Not being picky, I just took whatever was easiest to take from the basket, and put it on a small pile in front of Toothless.

Including an eel.

Before the fish had joined the pile with the rest, Toothless's pupils turned to slits and she recoiled in horror, ready to attack. As if the mere presence of the fish was a danger to her life.

It was kind of funny and I couldn't help but fail to retain my laughter.

"Really, the big scary Night Fury is afraid of a small fish?", I mocked her.

"It's a dead fish bud. What could it possibly do to you?", all that got me was an unamused look, but still Toothless carefully stepped closer.

Not to anger my companion I exchanged the eel for my cod. After which Toothless calmed down and took back her spot next to the fire.

I took my haddock and pierced it with a stick to hover it over the fire, after which I leaned back against the large dragon wrapping one arm around her, gently scratching one of her favorite spots on her neck.

To share a moment like this with Toothless was great, the loss of her tailfin had made a huge impact on the mental state of the dragon and she actually seemed somewhat content right now.

"During my trip today I might have found a way to get you flying again bud", I told her.

Toothless looked at me with big questioning eyes.

"A brand new fin, we'll start working on it first thing tomorrow"

Her pupils dilated more than I had ever seen before.

We held a stare for a good 5 seconds. I think. And before I could do anything I was overwhelmed by many licks from a very happy Toothless.