How to Be a Dragon Star 1

Chapter Twenty-Nine - Coming Back Around

 A wet nose brushed Hiccup's face. His body seemed detached from his mind, and for a moment, he sat there, his eyelids too heavy to lift, faintly wondering what was touching him and where he was.

He heard a grunting sound that vaguely reminded him of something. What? He dismissed the matter from his mind, deeming it unimportant.

The noise repeated twice more before Hiccup's mind revved up to recognize it. Toothless! Everything came rushing back, and Hiccup's eyes flew open. They stung slightly.

There was a black blur right in front of him. He blinked a few times and the hazy world focused.

It was Toothless. Delighted that the boy was awake at last, the black dragon did a little jig, accidentally stepping on Hiccup's sore body. He sat up, wincing. "Ow..."

Now that he was sitting up, Hiccup realized where he was. "I'm... in my house," he recognized, confused. Back on Berk.

He turned back to Toothless, his eyes widening. "You're in my house," he said, now anxious. "Um— does my dad know you're here—?"

Toothless, now thoroughly overexcited, leaped off Hiccup's bed and danced around the room. He jumped up on one of the foundation beams and peered down at Hiccup.

"Okay, no, Toothless—" Hiccup groaned. "Aw, come on— Get down from there!" He began to slide out of bed and suddenly paused, his eyes widening.

Silence fell. Toothless leaped down from the beam, sensing a change in atmosphere. Hiccup's face paled slightly. He'd hoped that after the battle... things would go back to normal... but no.

Hiccup pulled back his sheets and stared at his lower body in surprise and horror.

He slowly eased out of bed. He put his first foot on the floor, but when he put the second one down... the only thing that touched the floor was a prosthetic. A metal prosthetic that began a few inches below his left knee and stretched to the ground.

Emotions warred on the boy's face. Disbelief, sadness, confusion, and even the slightest bit of anger showed themselves for a second or two before fading away, replaced by resignation and determination.

I will figure this out. Somehow.

Hiccup looked up and met Toothless's large green eyes. Toothless leaned forward and sniffed the replacement limb.

Hiccup took a deep breath and stood up, holding on to the bedpost for support. He extended his new leg and tentatively placed it down, keeping his full weight on his right leg.

When he transferred his weight to his left side and tried to take a step, he collapsed forward. Toothless extended his neck to catch him and helped lift him back up.

Using the Night Fury as a support, Hiccup slowly limped across the room towards the door, getting more and more used to the new motion as he walked. By the time he reached the door, he could function without Toothless's assistance.

Hiccup opened the door. Outside, a flame-colored dragon met his eyes, just a few feet away. He gasped and flung the door shut.

"Toothless," he said, "stay here." And he opened the door again.

It was Snotlout, riding the Monstrous Nightmare. Upon seeing Hiccup, he hollered, "Come on guys, get ready! Hold on tight, here we go!"

Hiccup ventured out a bit farther. His eyes traveled down the hill the house was built upon and he gasped at the sight.

Dragons, everywhere. Mingling with the vikings, flapping in the bright sky, milling around the village. Snotlout and the Nightmare flew away and regrouped with the other teens. Hiccup saw Estrella there, as a human. His friends had the ring dragons around them. Aside from that, there were lots of other Nadders, Nightmares, Zipplebacks, and many more, all around the village.