How To Train Your Dragon: Possibilities

1: Phobia: After working on repairing the village in the wake of Drago's attack, Hiccup returns home to find his beloved dragon acting strange during a bout of stormy weather. It's only through his attempts to comfort his friend that he realizes the source of Toothless' fear lies in parallel to his own internal worries.

It had been a long day for Hiccup, longer than he had remembered the recent days being. As new chief of the village, he had been spending the majority of his free time overseeing the final few fixes to the previously ruined homes from the events of a matter of weeks ago. Even now, just a month after Drago's unsuccessful attack on the island of Berk, the repairs to the damage had only just began to bear proper fruit even with the help of his mother Valka's dragons. The village was at least beginning to resemble its former state now and the majority of the gigantic shards of ice left by the former Alpha had either been broken down with help from the dragons or eventually just washed away by the frequent storms now starting to hammer the small Viking home. Although it was that very reason that things had been slow today in particular. It was around the time of year when the oceanic weather was starting to hit the land with everything it had. Today alone there had been strong winds and rains together in heavy spurts of activity before subsiding just as quickly and Hiccup could've sworn he had even felt hail at one point when he was in the air with Toothless. It was getting to a point that even flying with the dragons was a challenge in itself, with the majority of the inhabitants preferring to stay indoors away from the brutal conditions until things became clearer. And Hiccup couldn't blame them thanks to the dangers it presented. Hiccup himself had managed to get caught in another bout of rain, the droplets starting to flatten his hair down as the storm began to intensify. A brilliant flash of light lit the ground beneath him before it was followed a moment later by a heavy rumbling noise muffled by the clouds. His eyes glanced upwards at the noise as he decided to quicken his pace home. The ground beneath his feet was already becoming waterlogged, splashes and squishes sounding out with each step he took. He mentally cringed at the mud. It always had to be mud. He thought that Toothless had had the right idea an hour or so ago, the dragon having long since fled inside the house at the first notion of things becoming damp again. Probably having grown tired of his wings being pelted with all those annoying pellets of water, or so Hiccup guessed. Astrid and the others had decided to call it a day around the same time the Night Fury had left, leaving just Hiccup to catch up with his mother who had already headed inside to his house. With a shiver running up his spine as cold moisture started to run down the back of his neck, Hiccup didn't miss a beat in grabbing the door, pushing it open and nearly praying there was a fire waiting.

The bang from the wooden frame hitting the wall seemed to amplify itself in tandem with another boom of thunder, the young chieftain quickly closing it behind him and bolting the metal lock over the hinge. He spun back round to glance around his home, kneeling down on his prosthetic leg to loosen his single shoe and remove it. He stepped forward, letting a small sigh rise from his throat as the heated stone beneath his bare feet seemed to help ease away the chill of outside from his skin. A small little invention he'd cooked up in a few houses as a test, having stones laid in such a way that they would retain the heat of a dragon's fire for a while in colder conditions. Sure, it needed the particularly long lasting flame of a Monstrous Nightmare to pull off, but it was a work in progress. Even as the leader of the village, Hiccup's tinkering habits hadn't seemed to ease off. As he walked into the room, he noticed Valka sitting in the main living area near the fire pit. The fire was still burning strong in the center of the room and the window to the back of the house had been swung open, likely due to the increasing wind, but she had failed to notice. Her dragon Cloudjumper was sat on the other side of the heat source, his bulky body rising and falling during his slumber as the odd snoring growl vibrated along the ground. The beast's four wings were tucked in at his sides as if to retain what heat he could, the large fins around his head occasionally adjusting themselves to catch the heat emanating from the flames. Though Hiccup had expected Cloudjumper to have been joined by a companion at this point, Toothless was nowhere to be seen, making Hiccup guess he may have been upstairs in their room. He began to wring out his hair, creating rather substantial puddles of water on the floor around his feet.
"I did need a shower anyway…" he said absentmindedly to himself, moving onto wringing out his sleeves as another crash of thunder sounded through the open window. Valka looked up at his mumbling with a warm smile, dropping the fire poker and making space for her son to sit down again.
"About time you got back in, I thought you'd be catching a cold if you stayed out much longer" she spoke up, the crackling of the flames adding a nice ambiance to their abode.
"Really, Mom? Chiefs don't get colds. At least according to Gobber, I shouldn't if I want to be one" Hiccup replied, sitting himself down by her side with a grunt.
"Even the greatest chiefs still have mothers to worry about them, you know" Valka mused with a raised brow, wrapping an arm around her son's shoulder and pulling him a little closer. Hiccup didn't resist as he stretched out his hands to warm them up on the fire. These moments between them were always welcome. Now that she had properly settled onto the island, Valka had been making the effort to spend as much time with Hiccup as possible, an action that Hiccup himself had relished the chance to take her up on. After all, they had years to catch up on. It was what his father would've wanted for the two of them.
"At least we'll nearly be done by tomorrow if the weather eases off." she continued, her hand trailing down to his and interlocking with his fingers. Hiccup nodded with a smile, a smirk briefly escaping his mouth.
"Yeah, as long as no power-mad, dragon controlling psychopaths decide to show up for round two" he grumbled, prompting Valka to playfully jab at his arm.
"Well, I'm sure it won't come to that. With you in charge, we'll be ready for next time." The two continued to sit in silence for a moment longer, staring into the dancing and formless outlines of the fire before them before Hiccup leaned his head against Valka's shoulder.
"Mom? Do you think I'm being a good chief?" he asked, the question making Valka turn her gaze away from the heat. "I mean, I know I haven't done that much except turn up for the races or tell people to move logs, but..."
"Of course you are, dear. We wouldn't be anywhere near done with rebuilding our home otherwise." she responded. "What makes you think you're not?"
"I don't know..." Hiccup said, rolling his shoulders for a moment. "I guess it just hasn't really sunk in yet. All I've known has been doing everything that a chief shouldn't. Flying with Toothless to far off lands rather than shouting out speeches, sketching out maps and designs instead of running the village, it...doesn't seem real still." Valka continued to brush through Hiccup's hair as she pondered his worries.
"But you've been able to do both, haven't you? In time, you'll be able to do that and much more for us all as well. Your father would never have asked you if he didn't think you were ready for it."
Hiccup simply nodded without a word. Valka thought he didn't seem convinced. His face said it all about how even now he still had some lingering doubts. Ever since the attack, Valka had noticed Hiccup split his attention. Some days, he would focus on the village, be as helpful as he could manage by directing the others and making things work like a proper chief would in preparation for whatever the future may throw at them. He was a natural leader when he had the confidence, he had shown that plenty of times with the other riders alone. But every so often, Valka would see him simply lost in thought for some time, always looking out towards the sea as if he just wanted to fly off on his Night Fury's back and escape from it all. He'd done that when he'd first been asked after all. Stoick's legacy was a big one to live up to and Hiccup had been thrown into his shoes through the worst of circumstances. Probably the only downside to having the soul of a dragon was that the adventurous spark within never really faded with time. Valka's expression soured for a moment as she made him look her with the eye with a gentle movement of her hand.
"You are the best chief for this village, Hiccup. You are the only one" she said sternly, her face seeming to be accented by the dim orange glow illuminating her skin. "I know you still have your doubts about what you're doing, about what your father would think and what he would've done in your place. But I also know that he would've been proud of you rising to the challenge."
"Thanks, Mom..." Hiccup said, closing his eyes for a moment to savor the touch of her hand before her words make him look at her again.
"Remember what I told you? On the plain where we watched him sail to Valhalla?" Valka asked, her voice hushed from the memory of that day returning to her thoughts. "You have the heart of a chief and the soul of a dragon. You're a wonderful thing in this world and he never stopped believing that. I wouldn't either." Her words seeemed to ease her boy's mind as Hiccup's mouth slowly curled into a smile. He nodded, shuffling his body a little closer to her side.
"I guess all I can do is try to keep him proud then, right?" Valka nodded, roughing his hair up with her other hand.
"And if you manage to slip up, I'll set you straight" she chuckled, faking a dragon roar playfully as she wrestled at her son's shoulders. He spluttered in surprise as he tried to escape her 'clutches'.
"You and who's army?" Hiccup yelped, muffled by her arm as her laugh echoed into the room along with his. It was nice that they seemed to gel together so well despite their time apart and Hiccup felt his heart swell at it. The pair settled down after a moment and went back to looking at the fire, the crackling of the flames being the only sound besides the occasional rush of wind against the house's walls that they could hear. Hiccup felt content. After today, it was no wonder that this was making him relax. He swore could almost fall asleep like this, his eyes noticeably starting to droop a little as-

*BOOM*

The sudden explosion of noise coming through the still open window was enough to make him jump upright, shaking his head back to reality as Valka too had looked back at the exposed space where the sound had managed to slip in. Hiccup hopped to his feet, grabbing the hefty wooden shutters and slamming them shut, just as another crack of lightning managed to pierce the relative quiet of his house. Though this time, he could've sworn he heard another noise. A noise coming from upstairs that sounded suspiciously like a dragon. Hiccup glanced back at his mother who seemed to have heard it too.
"He's been up there since I got in, hasn't come back down. I didn't want to disturb him, but best you go check on him, eh?" Valka suggested, picking up the fire poker again to keep the embers on the logs burning brightly. Hiccup nodded with another smile, grabbing onto the handrail and hurrying up the stairs, his metal leg sounding abnormally loud when compared to his good foot. He reached the top step of the landing, peering around in the shadows for any sign of his dragon.
"Toothless?" he hissed, trying to keep his voice down in case the Night Fury was resting. "Bud, you up here?" It only took a moment more for him to notice the outline of his beloved dragon, but something was...off.

Toothless was huddled near the corner of the room, the occasional flash of light from the storm getting through the cracks in the wood barely illuminating his darkly-coloured figure. He had compacted himself into the small space by Hiccup's bed and was glaring at the now shuttered window with one of the oddest expressions his human had noticed. Almost as if he was apprehensive. His paws were pressed flat against the tops and sides of his head, his ear-plates laid down flat against his neck. A soft growl was escaping his mouth every so often and the dragon didn't even seem to have noticed that anyone had come upstairs. Hiccup was a little stumped at Toothless' behaviour and began to take small steps towards him.
"Toothless? It's just me. You alright?" Toothless didn't even seem to acknowledge Hiccup, still growling softly at the window with narrowed pupils. Hiccup took another few steps forward.
"Something wrong, bud?" Toothless still didn't respond as a shiver ran down his scaled body from the groaning of the wooden walls against the gusting winds. Hiccup took a few more steps and then kneeled down, seating himself beside the dragon with a trace of a smile. This was almost too odd for Toothless, it seemed almost comical in how out of place it was.
'Gobber hasn't been singing to you again, as he?' Hiccup asked, noticing how Toothless' ears were pressed flat. It was then that he noticed that his dragon seemed to be staring at the groaning walls of the house from the storm.
"There's nothing out there, Toothless. Just another Berk-regulation storm" he said encouragingly, trying to figure out what the problem was. Still, Toothless did not take his eyes off of the glimpses of dark cloud in the sky he could manage to see through the cracks. Hiccup's initial brief amusement at this out of place behavior began to twist into concern the more the dragon seemed to be oblivious to him. He had seen Toothless worried and concerned before during their adventures, maybe apprehensive at worst when it came to a particular danger. But this seemed like it was stronger than that...almost like it was outright fear. He had never seen his friend so shaken by anything before and it made his chest hurt seeing the Night Fury like this. His arm reached out to try and get the dragon's attention when another crash of lightning illuminated the house through the cracks with a dim blue hue. Toothless instantaneously flinched and ceased his growling, pressing his paws firmer against his head and screwing his eyes shut. The growl was replaced by a light whimper as Hiccup was taken aback by it.
"Toothless…?"
He gently placed his hand over Toothless forehead, making the Night Fury twitch his head back in surprise. Realizing that it was his human, Toothless instantly darted forward to nuzzle Hiccup's palm with an affectionate noise, just as another bolt of lightning and its accompanying thunder flared into existence. The space between strikes seemed to be growing smaller and the dragon ducked his head down towards the floor with a loud whimper, attempting to shuffle himself further away from it. Hiccup's expression grew serious as he moved closer to Toothless' side.
"Hey, it's OK. I'm here, bud...what's the matter?"
Toothless lifted his head up to look at Hiccup, a whining noise piercing the quietness of the room as his eyes seemed to glisten in the flashes of light. Another boom made the dragon nearly squeak with another duck, similar to some sort of scared animal. Toothless had fought beasts more ferocious than he could ever be, cheated death from another dragon twice and still managed to stand up and defend the Viking from danger each time. And yet somehow, all it was taking was the weather to make him act this way. Another low rumble of the continuous noises from the storm made Toothless duck down once more, pressing his claws firmly over his ear-plates with another whimper. The shivers returned as well, but not from the cold air this time. Toothless just had this awful feeling at those noises. Even though it was just a sound from the sky, it instinctively made him feel sick inside and he just wanted to get away from it and shut it out. It had been the reason that he had fled only an hour ago. The same thought kept playing over in his head, his wish to tell his human to make it stop.

Hiccup finally realized the reason for his dragon's behavior, the length of the day having made his thoughts slower to process. Despite being described in the past as a ruthless hunter who used the shadows to take down its prey, Hiccup would never have guessed that Toothless had any real phobias, let alone this one. In fact, he was surprised dragons even had phobias to start with. The biggest question in his mind was why had he never seen it before? He and Toothless had flown together to all sorts of far off places with all sorts of sights and sounds to boot (as well as terrible weather). Even in stormy weather, the dragon had never reacted like this before. Despite his mental questioning, seeing how upset his friend was becoming as his shuffling away from the window became more frantic spurred Hiccup to do his best to calm him down.
"Easy, Toothless, easy. It's just a storm, we're safe in here. I promise, it can't hurt you."
Toothless looked up at him with big eyes and nuzzled his hand once more as it reached around to rub under his chin. His croons turned from a fearful tone to a more affectionate one as he attempted to move closer to his Viking. As another crash of lightning sounded out, this particular one much louder than the ones that had come before it, the dragon physically jumped backwards in shock. Hiccup shuffled forward and quickly began scratching Toothless' head to keep him calm. The Night Fury was becoming restless in anticipation of another strike, another nearly pathetic sounding whine vibrating in his throat.
"It's OK, Toothless...bud, I'm right here, see? I'm here" Hiccup repeated in a hushed tone to help his friend. "Just try and stay still, alright? It won't hurt you." He knew the command wouldn't help if Toothless didn't find a way to calm down and the Viking knew he needed a distraction to try and soothe his. The young man's mind raced as Toothless suddenly cried out again, his tone more desperate for some sort of relief from those frightening noises, a way to block it out. Hiccup's mind flashed through his memories and knowledge until it finally locked on one particular event just a few months ago. Back when another sound related incident had forced him to take more drastic measures. During their battle with Drago, despite the Alpha trying to control Toothless with those nearly sub-sonic noises, Hiccup had covered Toothless' eyes and ears to keep him numb to those frequencies. The intimidation of the Alpha had been both a visual and auditory influence and blocking it made Toothless immune to it. Perhaps the same thing would work here with the lightning? And at having that thought, Hiccup suddenly made a guess at what it was that was scaring Toothless so much. It was why Toothless had never reacted this way to weather of any sort before now and why it was affecting him so profoundly. It wasn't the lightning that was scaring him. It was what the sounds of the thunder were subconsciously reminding the dragon of.

Under the Alpha's control, Toothless had felt lost to his own body. He had been trapped, as if watching behind a veil at what someone else was doing instead of him. He had felt numb to any other sensation besides the utter dominance flooding his thoughts from those horrible rumblings of the Alpha. He had felt utterly powerless. He had watched himself nearly kill Hiccup, he had watched himself actually kill Hiccup's father...a member of his human's own family struck down by his flame. The way he had willingly followed that dragon-killing wretch into battle and attacked his own home as much as his subconscious mind had been screaming at himself to resist made Toothless feel sick with guilt. It was only thanks to his human's voice that the Alpha's roars had eventually been silenced. Toothless wanted to scream right now as much as his body wouldn't let him from his fear. Those sounds were another Bewilderbeast, he just knew it. He didn't want to hurt Hiccup again, not like before...he didn't want to be a tool for anyone, he just wanted to be Hiccup's dragon and nothing else. Hiccup continued his gentle rubbing around the large outline of Toothless' head as it sank in why the Night Fury was so afraid.
"Oh, bud..." he started, his tone hushed as Toothless' ear plates twitched at his words. "I know you're scared. You're worried about the noises, aren't you? You don't want to hurt me, but you think you could from those sounds..." he continued, hating the fact he was having to recall the memories of what the Alpha had made him do. But he kept his encouraging tone as he continued to speak to his friend. "But you don't need to worry, bud. You won, Toothless. You beat him because you were stronger than him, braver than him, than all of it. We beat him together." Hiccup braved another smile despite how it threatened to falter from seeing his closest companion in such a panic that he could do something to hurt the Viking, brushing over Toothless' snout with his fingers.
"I know you still worry about what'll happen sometimes. But I promise you, bud, we'll move forward together. Even if you stumble and worry or you feel like you just need me to be there, I'll help you through it. And I know you'd do the same for me".
Toothless whined again, staring back at his human through the darkness with big loving eyes as he shifted a little closer. Now that the Night Fury was relatively calm compared to before, Hiccup started to glance around the room for anything that would do for his 'blind' strategy. It was just his luck that he spotted the very same sheet of cloth he had used during the battle a few inches away near the end of his bed, a reminder he had kept to honor how they had flown together as one that day. His body started to lean away from the dragon to grab it and Toothless instantly noticed, letting out an insistent noise as his claws grabbed at Hiccup's legs to stop him from leaving. The Viking paused as he turned back to the Night Fury, rubbing under his chin again as another loud boom from above their heads made Toothless shiver in hatred of the fact the noises were still coming. Though not as bad as before.
"Easy, Toothless, easy..." he whispered, bringing his head closer to the dragon's own and gently nuzzling against it, an action the pair of them usually shared together when they were alone. Toothless followed suit, a gentle vibration replacing his previous whimper as his eyes closed to focus on being close to his human. Hiccup brought his head up again, smiling warmly at his friend.
"Do you trust me, bud?" he asked, his words echoing that day. Toothless was noticeably taken aback, remember that time vividly with a flutter of his ear plates. The dragon nodded, loosening his grip to allow Hiccup to grab the fabric. He closed his eyes as the Viking took it in both hands, gently wrapping it around the dragon's large head to cover his vision. Hiccup's hands traced over the smooth scale of his friend's head, running around to his ear plates and gently pressing them down in an insistent manner to make Toothless lower himself to the floor. A vibrating rumble shuddered its way through the floor to Hiccup's bare foot as Toothless' chin touched the ground, the metal in his prosthetic almost ringing from it as the dragon began to settle, his wings relaxing from their previous hunched up position.
"Shhhh...that's it, bud, just relax...block it out..." Hiccup cooed, his fingers making sure to stay in the right spots as the Night Fury finally began to calm. He could no longer notice the noises from outside, his senses becoming dulled to everything except the gentle touches of his human around his head. Toothless could even manage a glimmer of a content smile as he willingly let Hiccup's sense of comfort overwhelm his senses. With none of those noises to scare him anymore, Toothless found himself settling quickly into a much needed deep sleep, his back rising and falling without worried, panicked noises or movements to accompany it. Hiccup smiled to himself, resting his forehead against his now sleeping companion as a final gesture of goodnight. As if to coincide with his "victory", the lingering rumble of thunder had already started to fade into nothing as the worst of the storm started to pass.

"You know him better than yourself sometimes" Valka mused, having quietly made her way up the stairs without being noticed to watch the scene before her. She'd never say it outloud to save her son from embarrassment, but the entire scene was just adorable. Hiccup spun his head around to her prescence, almost forgetting about how quiet footed she could be thanks to her years of being such around the dragons.
"Oh, he was scared of the thunder...he thought it was another Bewilderbeast" Hiccup answered in a hushed voice. "He thought that the noises were going to make him act like he did with the Alpha before. He was scared of what could happen, like...I'm still worried I could do something wrong as the chief." Hiccup's sentence trailed off as he made the connection that he and his dragon weren't so different in their thoughts.
"And yet you guided him. You knew exactly what to do to ease away his fears." Valka noted. "I'd think that a chief who makes those under his care feel safe is what we need right now." Hiccup nodded as he understood that his mother had a point.
"I guess we both need to block those worries out somehow. Think it's going to take a little more than a blindfold for me, though." Valka nodded as a grin spread across her face. She stepped backwards onto the stairs nearly silently, gesturing to the sleeping Toothless with a nod of her head as if to allow Hiccup the space to stay with his dragon. He smiled back at her until she disappeared out of sight, the Viking shuffling closer to the Night Fury to continue rubbing over his head.
"Long day, huh, bud?" he mumbled, the dragon's ear plate twitching at the noise as Toothless stirred briefly for a moment. He extended out of his front legs as one of his eyes opened slightly, an attempt to touch the human followed by a gentle tugging motion when his claw-tips made contact. Hiccup got the message loud and clear and began to move his body to lay down on the ground besides his friend. After the events of Drago's attack, Toothless had often wanted Hiccup to sleep near him like this instead of in his bed. And because Toothless had been rather insistent on the concept, Hiccup had come to enjoy the closeness to his friend when they laid beside each other like this. He'd probably say this was the best way he could think to sleep after the day both of them had had.
Toothless shifted his body to the side and began to huddle his limbs inwards to pull the Viking as close to him as he could manage. Hiccup could already feel the warmth of Toothless' underbelly against his back and soon found those front paws wrapping themselves around his chest. He could feel Toothless' deep, bass-filled purrs in his head along with his heavy breathing as his chest expanded and shrunk. The purrs grew louder as Toothless nuzzled his head against the top of Hiccup's own with another affectionate croon, seeming like he was oblivious to the situation he had placed his human in...but Hiccup knew better. He chuckled as he whispered under his breath.
"Just not too tightly, OK?"
Toothless squeezed him as if to stop him talking and just accept the embrace. With another smirk, Hiccup glanced upwards at Toothless' closed eyes.
"Anything to help you out, Toothless." he started. He paused before he spoke again, his voice turned almost inaudible as a sudden well of emotion spilled.
"I...love you, bud."
As strange as it seemed for him to hear himself say those words out loud, Hiccup couldn't think of another way to phrase what he meant. Toothless meant more than the world to him, like he had always been part of his family from the beginning. And he always would. From how he was being kept tightly close to the slumbering beast, he was sure it was the same way with his dragon. A soft purr provided Toothless' answer and Hiccup wouldn't object as the dragon wrapped his tail around them both and locked Hiccup in his warm embrace. Hiccup wrapped his own arms around one of Toothless' front paws and hugged it tightly against his chest.
"Night, Toothless…sweet dreams, bud."
Hiccup began to drift off, content in being alongside his warm and loving Night Fury for the rest of the chilly evening.

It was just the one night. But it was one of the most pleasant ones Hiccup could remember having for a long time.