How to Deal With Amnesia

Chapter 6: Morning

"So... where can we get something to eat around here?" Hiccup, now wearing a light green shirt, asked Toothless as he finally managed to go downstairs and realize there was no more food in the house.

He felt ashamed to take almost three minutes to descend, which would normally take like 3 seconds, but he was still getting the hang of the prosthetic thing. It still amazed Hiccup that Toothless was always around; making sure the boy was okay. The dragon moved his head, pointing at the door. It took Hiccup a few second to figure out the door opened up instead of to the side, but he liked it nonetheless. Toothless now pointed with his snout to a big house.

"Wow, this place is beautiful!" He said. "Well, I guess we better get going, I'm clumsy enough with two feet, now with only one, I'll be lucky if I get there before noon." The dragon released a sound that looked like a laugh, then, he went to his left side, nudging his hand. "You... want me to lean on you?" He nodded in response. "Okay. Thanks, Toothless."

He crooned softly as if saying 'you're welcome', and so they started their walk to the Club House.

It took him almost fifteen minutes to limp with Toothless as a crutch, getting close to a house with a huge S above the door that just opened.

"Oh, look, it's the Dragon Trainer and his dragon, walking around the Edge... Shouldn't you be flying?"

"Snotlout?" He asked only to be sure, because he could recognize his bully friend.

"Duh, obviously. But you know that. Come on, you don't fool me, Hiccup. This memory loss thing is just a trick. Look, okay, I messed up big time, and so did the twins, just so you don't forget about them. So, okay, sorry about that, now drop the act."

Hiccup raised an eyebrow.

"Snotlout, I'm not pretending anything. And you called me by the name, since when do you do that? Usually is, well, 'Useless'."

"Oh, come on, it's been years since I last called you like that." He moaned, impatiently and then punched Hiccup on the arm. "This act is really getting annoying."

"Ouch! Why would you do that?"

Toothless decided to interrupt by swinging his tail to hit Snotlout's head. The obnoxious young man grunted and scolded the dragon, only to receive laughs from Toothless and Hiccup.

"You know what, Toothless, if I didn't like you before, I certainly do now." The boy commented petting the black-scaled dragon.

Snotlout took a closer look on their leader. Hiccup wasn't wearing his usual attire; he had put on a shirt that looked like the one from his fifteen years, only shorter, with no usual leather vest or accessories. And he looked different, not because of the clothes or the weird way he was leaning on Toothless for support, it was way beyond this; his whole posture seemed like the one when Snotlout used to mock and tease him. It was a hunched posture; the fact that Hiccup kept looking down or to the sides, avoiding eye contact was also a bit unnerving. Hiccup was totally different from the leader he got used to. Besides, Toothless didn't have his saddle on, and he was never without it.

"You're really not acting... are you?"

Hiccup pouted, looking confused before running his free hand on his hair.

"No, Snotlout. I wish I was, but... I'm just... not..." He shrugged.

Snotlout looked at his feet. He didn't actually believe it until this moment, and the realization sort of shocked him in a very unpleasant way, and if he cared, if he had a heart, he'd probably feel very guilty as well, but of course, he was way too mainly to have feelings...