Found again (HTTYD FF)

★32★

"So, what can you do?" Tuffnut asked again, but didn't give Hiccup a chance to answer. "Can you spit fire? Can you talk like dragons? How much destruction can you cause? Can you help us raze the village to the ground?"

"Can you fight?" Ruffnut joined in. "How long can you last underwater? Do you have fireproof skin? What's that on your tail?" She pointed a finger at his prosthetic.

Hiccup, overwhelmed by all the random questions, didn't realize at first what the twins were actually asking. Not until Ruffnut pointed her finger at his prosthetic. At that moment, he was alert again.

"Nothing." He tried to take the attention away from his tail and jerked it behind him, out of their sight. That made it worse, though, because everyone started to take an interest. For once, he was grateful to Toothless for his growl.

All the Vikings took a step back, and Tuffnut raised his hands in the air. "Relax, Mr. Night Fury. Nothing's wrong. My sister was just curious, that's all."

"Exactly! Why do you have such a problem with that?"

"Now, if you'll excuse us, we need Hiccup to answer our questions," Tuffnut supplied. Both twins looked expectantly at Hiccup, who just shot a nervous glance towards Toothless.

"Do you think I can show them?" he carefully asked.

"What!? Are you crazy? Of course not! If they find out, if it gets out to other people like Viggo, you'll have a lot more hunters after you than you can imagine! No - and that's the final answer!"

"All right, whatever you think... You know it's not up to you anyway."

"Hiccup! No! You do that and I'll personally carry you all the way to the nest and make sure you never stick the tip of your tail out again unless it's under my supervision and with my permission!" Toothless decided. He almost literaly stabbed Hiccup with a look that clearly said he was dead serious.

Hiccup frowned. The Night Fury had just caught his attention. "You wouldn't do that."

"I would! If it means you won't do anything stupid, I will! And I mean it!"

"Oh, come on! They'll find out one day anyway! Everyone will know, and it doesn't matter if I'm here, in the nest, or somewhere else." Hiccup tried to keep his voice as low as possible, though the others could certainly hear him - especially the dragons.

"What are you talking about? What shouldn't he be doing?" the Zippleback's two heads asked simultaneously.

"Oh, I know! Hiccup has already reached the last part of the transformation that all dragon souls undergo!" Stormfly announced, proud to share this information with the others.

Toothless growled angrily at her. "I knew she'd say that as soon as she got the chance!"

"Ehh... what is going on?" Fishlegs asked uncertainly as the dragons began to shout again.

"Change, I want to see it!"

"Please do it!"

"Leave him alone! He'll do it when he feels like it!"

"Is that really true?"

"I thought people with dragon souls didn't exist anymore?"

"Hiccup, what's going on?" Astrid tried to drown out the dragons.

Hiccup would have answered her if he was sure she could hear him over the dragons, and if he knew how to answer. Instead, he tried to calm the overly excited dragons. "Can you... can we figure this out later? After you've calmed down a bit? You can-"

"Everyone be quiet already!" Toothless ordered, annoyed by all the noise.

"Thanks," Hiccup said when it was finally quiet, but he knew that this moment of peace wouldn't last long since there was still the gang, the twins' unanswered questions, and the long hours he would be spending in the company of his old friends.

"So... what was that supposed to mean?"

Hiccup ignored Snotlout's question, instead turning to Toothless. A new idea had just formed in his chaotically organized mind, one in which only Hiccup could see order at times. From the look in Toothless' eyes, he could tell that the Night Fury had guessed he was up to something.

"Oh no. What did you come up with now?"

"How about you go somewhere else with the other dragons. You know, to get acquainted. If we're all here, all we'll do is shout each other down."

"And you think I'm just going to believe that's all you have to say?" Toothless rolled his eyes. "Nothing else I should know?"

"No, nothing." Hiccup tried not to sound too convincing, since that was what would give away his lie.

"Really?"

"Of course."

"Give me a reason to tru-"

"Cut it out already, Toothless. Can't you see you're holding everyone up? Everything will be fine!" Toothless was interrupted by Stormfly. She glanced subtly in Hiccup's direction, and he caught her look and got the message. "Let's go somewhere else! This cove is too small for all of us to be here at once anyway," she continued to try to subtly encourage Hiccup.

Toothless fell for that. Hiccup watched in surprise the dragon he had thought of as his brother for so long. Was he all right? Never before had he let Hiccup so easily carry out plans that went against everything Toothless thought was right.

"Very well," Toothless agreed. However, before he and the others flew away, he cast one last glance at Hiccup. "I'll know everything you do." With that, he turned and flew away.

"Okay, now will you finally explain what's been going on all this time?" Astrid asked.

"Sorry, my bad. But at least I got the dragons away for a while."

"Yeah, I can see that. But why would you send them away?" Tuffnut looked at Ruffnut in confusion, grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. "He chased our dragon away, sis! We'll never see him again!"

"Wha-no! They'll be back, Tuffnut. Why wouldn't they come back?"

"So we haven't lost them forever?" he asked.

"No, of course not."

"Oh, okay." Tuffnut let go of Ruffnut and stood next to her, as if he hadn't been freaking out at the loss of their dragon a moment ago, as if nothing had happened.

"Okay, time for the most important thing," Snotlout spoke suddenly. "Time for my proof. Prove to me that you really are Hiccup."

"How?"

"I don't know. Just prove it."

Hiccup thought for a moment. Surely there had to be some way to prove it to him. Something only Snotlout would know. But what? He just stood there for a moment, thinking. And then something occurred to him. He remembered his first conversation with his cousin just as Fishelgs began to speak.

"Snotlout, there's no way he can prove it to you. You'll just have to accept that it's true without proof."

Hiccup waited for Fishlegs to finish before he said: "The one time you had dinner with us, we argued about who would be the best and strongest Viking when we grew up."

"Yeah, I remember that. Good, it's you," Snotlout acknowledged.

"I told you." Astrid shook her head and rolled her eyes. She'd been doing that a lot lately.

Hiccup smiled. In a moment, casual conversation echoed through the cove, and Hiccup was enjoying it. He was enjoying the presence of his newfound friends. Though from time to time one of them shot an odd glance towards his prosthetic, he chose to ignore it. And he chose not to show them what he had originally wanted - his dragon form.

What if Toothless was right?