Burn - Toothless's thoughts as his tailfin burns away.
Set during the Battle of the Red Death. Toothless's POV.
I feel the searing heat enveloping my tail.
It burns, burns, chewing away at the straps and my scales as I bank left and right, up and down, frantically out of the path of the great Queen. I let out a snarl, desperately flicking my tail left once more, ignoring the increasing resistance on my left side. I don't dare look back.
The one night I did, I lost my left tailfin.
But that isn't now. Now is darting side to side, through the blinding clouds, far too close to hard, rocky ground I don't know how close I am to. I hear the Queen's massive wings flapping right behind me, hear the wind rushing past as I bank steeply downwards, diving faster than ever.
I know that at this rate, I'll reach ground fast – far too fast. I know that at this rate, if I hit the ground at this speed, he'd be pulverized – my human, so exposed on my back. I can't protect him from that.
And the thought of that scares me, more than the risk of losing my own life.
But I know the human perched so precariously on my back, on the cowskin appendage strapped just behind my lower neck, has a mind like no other - quick, sharp, and agile to react with the confidence of the mightiest dragons. And while I've only known him for so little time, a mere fraction of my great lifespan, I know he has the heart of a dragon, stubborn and selfless to a degree I cannot fully fathom.
I know he'll protect me. I know he'll keep me safe.
And so, as my human urges me onwards, I fly. Fly faster, harder, than I've ever flown before. Fly in spite of the rushing heat, the flames ripping their way through my human's artificial tailfin contraption. Fly in spite of my tail's increasing tendency to drift and shudder in the rushing air as my left tailfin burns to pieces, threatening to flip out from underneath me and toss me into an uncontrollable flat spin from which I'd never be able to recover.
For I trust him. For I know the boy has given me so much – flight, trust, friendship. It's all I can do to do everything I can to repay the favor.
"Stay with me buddy, we're good, just a little bit longer."
Okay, my friend. For you.
A/N: I write a lot of short ficlets – vignettes, simple fluff, the like - in my free time that never get published because they're just too short and lack substance. This is one of them. And now I'm publishing them because I'm bored and why not.
So yeah, I'll be dumping short fics in here that are too short for their own post but not entirely rubbish either once every so often. This will be the first of many to come.