Setting: Post-Movie

This is my first fanfic, so read and review so I know what I can fix and what to improve on.

Disclaimer: Nope. Not mine, the storyline is, but that's about it.

Stranded

Hiccup abruptly woke from his sleep, clenching the remainder of his left leg in agonizing pain. The spasms felt as though they were centered in the body part that was already removed! Hiccup was drenched in sweat, and this was made even worse by the cold autumn weather.

The elder had told him that the pain would subside within a few months if Hiccup didn't go hurting himself, but it had been 3 months and the pain hadn't lessen a bit. The herbs she'd given him barely scratched the surface of the tormenting pain that bothered him nearly every single day. The sensation was like his leg was twisted, and forcefully yanked off by a pair of pliers, probably the feeling left over from the amputation. He brought down his hand, rubbing his leg to soothe the pain until a quiet murmur caught his attention.

As usual beside his bed, the large black mass of scale and bones was awake and whined out of sympathy for Hiccup. He placed a hand on the side Toothless's head and scratched behind his ear where Toothless always itched and where he could never reach. Crooning out of delight, he gave Hiccup a wet lick to the face.

"Aghh, Toothless!" Hiccup chuckled at the feeling of the wet tongue and wiped his face with the sleeve of his shirt. Toothless brought his head up nudged him in the chest, purring contently. Suddenly the boy felt as though there was something had gone missing… It was the pain! It was gone! Rejoiced, Hiccup brought Toothless into an embrace around his neck, amazed how the simple affection of his dragon could ward off such terrible pain.

"You always know how to make me feel better, huh bud?" Hiccup said before taking his arms off Toothless.

The boy tiredly laid back down onto his pillow, finally knowing he was able to get a good night's rest. But oddly, he kept lying there, not being able drift off. Even though the pain seemed to have temporarily warded off, he still wasn't able to fall sleep. Seemingly, Toothless couldn't sleep either; as Toothless makes a soft purring/snoring sound when he slept, and the room was as silent as a graveyard.

Hiccup sat up and opened the curtains to look outside at the night sky. It was an usually calm night, no fog, no clouds on the horizon, and the moon was shining brightly in the sky along with the infinite stars. The perfect conditions for flying… No. Stoic didn't allow him to fly at night. Maybe if I fly with Toothless for a few hours and come back to the house just before dawn. But what if- Nah! It'll be fine! Deciding that sitting there won't help any of them to sleep, Hiccup turned to the side of the bed, placing his hand onto Toothless's head.

"Hey bud, you wanna go for a quick fly?" Toothless pulled his head up in attention and made a grunting sound that was what Hiccup could assume was yes.

Hiccup quickly picked up his prosthetic leg off the floor and fastened the straps to his leg. He walked to the bedroom door, grabbing the riding gear and his coat from the rack on the way before creeping down the stairs, hoping his father wasn't awake. Hiccup knew that his father slept fairly lightly. Years of dragon invasions have trained him to wake up to even the slightest of sounds. Luckily for him, a loud snoring resounded from the room below, sending a wave of relief through the boy.

Satisfied that there was a very miniscule chance he would be caught, he motioned Toothless to come down the stairs while slowly opening the rear door of the house, praying to Odin that it wont creak as it usually did and wake his father up.

Closing the back door, Hiccup noticed that Toothless was hopping around on the grass, obviously excited about the sudden excursion. Hiccup beckoned the dragon to calm down, but the warning came slightly too late as he bumped into a metal spade leaning on the wall, creating a big "Clang" as it fell onto one of the stone tiles leading away from the house.

"Toothless! Settle down boy!" Hiccup hushed in a quiet voice. The young Viking then started to secure the saddle onto Toothless and run his usual checks to see if all the cables and the fin were working properly. But something in particular caught Hiccup's attention; one of the cables that-

Hiccup froze, as a hint of light shone from the side of the house, along the path that lead to the village.

"Hello? Who is there, show yourself!" A gruff sounding man demanded from hearing the clang of the shovel.

It was one of the night patrollers, who walked around the village during the night making sure everything in the village was secure and there was no mischief going on. Surely, the patroller will question why Hiccup was up so late and the resulting conversation could possibly wake up Stoic. Running back into the house wasn't an option either, as the door tends to make a lot of noise when opened quickly.

Thinking fast, Hiccup swiftly jumped onto Toothless and latched his prosthetic to the rudder pedal.

"Alright Toothless, lets go!" Urged Hiccup. Instantly, Toothless and Hiccup were in the air, soaring far above the island.

The watchmen turned the corner to the back of the house, and was bewildered at the fact that there was no one there. "Huh? I thought there was someone back here… Probably just a racoon, damn rodents." The watchmen shrugged off the feeling and walked back to his original patrol route.

Flight seemed to melt away the night, easing Hiccup's pain and a relaxing ordeal for Toothless. The wind through his hair, and the view of the tranquil horizon was a sight that Hiccup wished he could enjoy with Toothless a little more often. With Hiccup training to be the new chief, flying was a rare treat to both the dragon and its rider. The night sky twinkled with the countless stars and the big white ball that they called the moon. The water shimmered as they flew away from berk, both enjoying the scenery.

They flew for what felt like hours; neither dragon nor rider wanting to return home. The sky was slowly turning from a deep blue color into a lighter one, indicating that dawn was slowly approaching, and Hiccup knew that if they didn't return home before dawn arrives, the punishments would be unthinkable.

Hiccup leaned forward and patted Toothless's neck. "Come on bud, lets go home before dad finds out we're not in bed." Toothless groaned with discontent that they had to return so soon and promptly turned around, heading back to Berk.

***LINEBREAK****

On Berk, it was just another regular morning. The sun was starting to rise, and almost no one had arisen from their houses yet. It was no different for Stoic, as he slept soundly on his bed… Until a loud knock was heard pounding on his door.

"Mmmf…" Stoic muttered, still asleep. Another knock was heard from the door, this time a little more rambunctious, fully waking up Stoic.

"Argh. Alright, alright, I'm coming, hold your horses." The man was clearly annoyed that his sleep had been disturbed. He got up and swung his legs to the side of the bed yawning at what little sleep he got compared to other nights. He slid off the bed, and walked to the front door, opening it to see Spitelout, his second in command.

"Chief, our trading ship from neighbouring tribe has arrived." Spitelout reported.

"And you disturbed my sleep, just to tell me that our trading ship has arrived?" Stoic was not too pleased that he had been woken up for such a trivial event.

"Yes, but some of the crew onboard are injured, and the ship is severely damaged from what appears to be… Dragon blasts."

Stoic quickly got out of the house and closed the door, walking in strides to the docks. "Go get the elder to the docks to examine the injured, and bring more men to unload the ship."

"Yes chief." Spitelout split off Stoic's direction and headed to the elder's hut.

Dragons? I thought we were done with the problems when we killed their queen…

Re-edited for coherency and better writing