New Life Ahead [HTTYD]

Chapter 13: Reduced to a Role in the Family

"Brother Hiccup! Wake up!" Said the high-pitched voice of the hatchling in a playful tone. His little paws rested themselves upon Hiccup's forearm while he bounced up and down in excitement.

Hiccup tucked his head under his arms. He grumbled a "No." under his breath. Like many nights before, he smiled when he heard an irritated groan come from the hatchling.

"Come on, brother. You promised me that me could play with the other dragons today!" The hatchling complained. He climbed up Hiccup's wings and made it to the larger Night Fury's scalp. The baby then proceeded to clamp his small, underdeveloped teeth on Hiccup's left ear and began to tug.

The larger dragon chuckled a little at the baby's futile attempts of waking him up. He liked playing with the hatchling. It was like being with a puppy who could talk. It was cute, but never got annoying for the Viking. He could spend all day with the hatchling if he wanted to.

The baby was sent flying after tugging too hard and landed on his backside. The hatchling shook his head to clear it, then got a determined expression set on his face. He got back on all fours, lowered his front paws, shook his rump in the air, then dashed toward Hiccup with his head bent forward.

Hiccup awoke to the feeling of the baby's head hitting his own. Hard. With a groan, the former Viking finally got to his feet, rubbing his head in annoyance. The impact hadn't hurt that much, but it was still a bit painful. Yawning, the dragon looked around for the child before finally seeing the hatchling on his bottom once again, rubbing his own head in obvious pain.

"You alright?" asked Hiccup. The hatchling didn't seem to respond, clenching his eyes tightly while a small whimper escaped him. Hiccup's playful expression became one of concern once he realized this.

"Hey." He said, walking over to the baby and lowering his large head down to the hatchling's level. "You're not hurt, are you?"

The hatchling looked up towards Hiccup, tears of pain present in his small green eyes. The baby's small wings wrapped around him, as if embarrassed about being caught crying. Hiccup frowned at this, extending his muzzle underneath the hatchling's and crooning a bit to calm the hatchling down.

The dragon purred in response, forgetting all about his pain and instead squealed a little when the former human's muzzle tickled the underside of his chin. A little giggle escaped him as Hiccup began licking at the spot that dragons felt the most pleasure. Hiccup had been taught that this was the area that held a really soft nerve that, when touched or scratched, would instantly calm a dragon down.

"Sto-Ah ha ha ha-p it!" The baby giggled. "That tickles."

Hiccup pulled back, proud that his 'baby brother' was happy again. "You're alright now?" He asked.

The hatchling's content expression suddenly became one of confusion and...fear? "You can talk? Who are you?" The hatchling asked, his voice laced with rising panic.

Now Hiccup was the confused one. What was the baby talking about? Of course he could talk! They were both dragons. And what did he mean by who he was? They'd known each other for weeks by now! He narrowed his eyes in bafflement.

The baby began to crawl backwards, but he seemed to be having troubled moving his legs. It was like he had completely forgotten how to coordinate his limbs properly. The hatchling yelped when his legs tangled over each other, causing him to land on his back painfully. 

"Woah! What's the matter? Are you okay?" Hiccup asked in concern. The Viking took a few steps forward toward the hatchling, but the baby (who was in tears at this point from the pain) gasped and flailed his front paws wildly.

"Please don't hurt me dragon!" He cried. "I just want to go home!"

Hiccup froze. "Did he just refer to me as 'dragon?'" He thought. "First his fear, then asking whether dragons could talk, and now he can't walk? Just what..."

Then Hiccup gasped as realization crashed in with the strength of a fireball.

"You were a human...weren't you?" Hiccup asked softly, his tone and expression blank.

The hatchling, who had now managed to scoot himself with difficulty to the wall, whimpered.

"Please! All I remember is being picked up by a Night Fury after my village was destroyed! She took me here and then she bit me, and the-then m-m-my b-body b-became this and then I don't remember!" The hatchling wailed through his sobs. He curled in upon himself, his wings wrapping around him as he wailed in misery.

Hiccup's body was numb. From shock, anger, or sadness, he couldn't tell. It was probably all three, but all he could do at the moment was watch as the hatchling continued to cry, sobbing quietly while pressing himself flat against the wall. The baby dragon's fast confession took a moment to settle in his brain. The baby's position reminded him all too well of how he reacted when he got turned into a dragon.

"He's... a human too?" He thought in shock. The hatchling meanwhile, continued to sob loudly and cry out in vain.

"Please just take me home! I don't want to be-"

All of a sudden, the hatchling froze. His facial expression switched from one of sadness and fear to one of confusion, then to severe pain. Hiccup watched with wide eyes as the hatchling lifted his tiny paws to his head, gripping it as if it was on fire. Hiccup's heart began to race as the hatchling threw himself to the floor, thrashing about and babbling to himself, almost too quick for the Viking to make out.

"Mommy! Help! No I just want to...play with brother! NO! Home! I want to go... Where mommy? Village burn? But where Mommy and Daddy? Head hurt! Mommy!

Then the hatchling's eyes bulged, making contact with Hiccup's. The baby dragon remained silent for a moment, just staring at Hiccup with scared eyes. Then he took one last deep breath... and proceeded to scream.

"HELP MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" He screeched, his eyes dilating into pinpricks while Hiccup continued to watch in horror, mouth gaping. The hatchling then threw himself around like he was having a seizure, screeching the entire time and clenching his eyes shut while grasping his paws to his head.

Then, as quickly as the ordeal started, it stopped. The baby dragon's erratic movements slowly stilled, then ceased altogether. His screeches fell into silence, then he fell unconscious on the floor, facing the wall.

Hiccup, who was now breathing hard to calm himself down, stared wearily at the body of the baby dragon. His body clenched up when the hatchling began to bring himself up on all fours. Without facing Hiccup, the baby got up off the floor, stared at the wall in front of him for a few moments, then turned his head to face Hiccup.

The hatchling stared at Hiccup with blank eyes, almost as if he didn't recognize him. The former Viking noticed that the hatchling's eyes were becoming slits, but it looked unnatural with how the baby dragon wasn't moving or giving off any emotion. After a few moments, (when the eyes finished changing) an innocent smile broke across the baby dragon's face.

"You awake Brother Hiccup!" He cried out happily, wagging his tail and flapping his wings. "Can we play now?"

Hiccup just stood there for a minute, regarding the hatchling intently, before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and everything went dark.

Strangely, the last thing he heard was a feminine voice calling his name.