Half-Blood

Chapter 1: Black Scales

I live on the island of Berk. I am a dragon trainer. My name is Ventus. I am slightly taller than Hiccup, I have messy hair like Hiccup's, my hair is jet black, and I have a little more muscle than Hiccup. My two best friends are Tyra and my Night Fury, Shock. Shock is a male Night Fury and Tyra is a regular girl…well, she's much more than just a regular girl. She's awesome. She's always been different but that's why she's my friend. Right now, she was at the Dragon Academy looking for her dragon, a male Deadly Nadder named Firefly. "Firefly! Ugh, where is that dragon?" she said as she blew her golden hair out of her face.

"Hey Tyra! Did you lose your dragon again?" I said while grinning.

She wrinkled her nose at me as she said, "No! He just likes to play Hide-From-His-Tamer-Because-it's-a lot-of-Fun-to-See-Her-Reactions!"

I just smirked and said, "Mhm. Sure. Hey Astrid! Could you come help Tyra find Firefly? Maybe Stormfly could help find him."

Tyra just gave a fake smile as she stomped on my foot really hard. "I will punch you next time, got it?" she said in a fake sweet voice.

I pretended I didn't feel anything and gave a fake smile and a nervous laugh. "Haha! Ok…You'll punch me the next time what happens?"

She just gave me a mocking grin and responded with, "I changed my mind. I'll use my trusty sword to gut you."

"Well, you do realize that I'm just as good as you with a sword? Plus, I have a Night Fury while you have a Deadly Nadder," I said while smirking.

"So? A dragon is a dragon, a partner to its rider," she said.

"A dragon, my dear Tyra, is a friend. It's more than just a 'partner to its rider'. It's a friend," I said.

Tyra suddenly started staring behind me and grew a bright smile on her face. "Firefly!" she exclaimed excitedly.

"Oh good. There he is. I even brought him a whole cod. Here ya go, Firefly!" I said as I threw the cod at Firefly who caught it in his mouth.

Tyra rubbed her head. "Firefly, why do you make me worry?" she asked as she scratched Firefly's neck.

I suddenly got an idea. "Hey Tyra, don't you think it'd be cool if we could actually speak to and understand Dragons? We should try to figure out their language. Hey, Shock! You think you could help us?" I asked. Shock just grunted and nodded his head, then returned to sleeping. "See? They can understand us but we don't know what they're saying!" I pointed out.

Tyra then almost absentmindedly said, "Shock says he needs his sleep and Firefly wants to see his older sister, Stormfly."

I stared at her with a gaping mouth and just stammered out my words, "Uhm…how did you…with the dragons…their language…and the…what?!"

She blinked before her gaze hardened and she said, "Ever since I was born, my mother said it was a gift from Odin." She then sighed and said, "It's not a gift if you can hear the dragons scream when Vikings killed them."

I was just still staring with amazement. "All except for the part about when we used to kill dragons, that's awesome! Can you teach me? This is definitely going in the Book of Dragons!" I said.

She covered my mouth with her hand and said, "Shut up, you dingbat…and stop staring at me like that! There are multiple types of understanding dragons."

I took this as an opportunity to mess with Tyra. I smirked and said in a teasing tone, "Aw, why should I stop staring?"

She blushed a little and asked, "Are you flirting with me?"

I smirked again and said, "No. I'm just messing with you. Or am I? No, I totally am."

She rolled her eyes at Shock and Firefly, who were giving hissing laughter. She then got serious and said, "Thanks for reminding me that I'm a freak to Vikings."

I started trying to make her feel better and said, "Hey hey! What? You're not a freak! You're an awesome, amazing Viking!" I then stared at the ground as I realized what I just said. I looked at Tyra with a huge blush on my face and said, "Uhm, did I just say that out loud? I did not say that because I have a crush on you!"

She was slightly blushing but didn't really know what was going on so she said, "Wait, what?"

I was blushing a lot by now and said, "I only said that to say you're not a freak. I didn't say that for any other reason!"

Shock was awake at this time and since Tyra could understand him, he told her, "He's lying, Tyra." Tyra then glanced at Shock with her emerald eyes.

She then said, "Why are you panicking?" to me.

I just ignored the question and started walking away very flustered when I heard thunder from above the academy and it started to rain. I took this as a chance to get what I said out of our heads and said, "Hey Tyra? You think we should take shelter? I see storm clouds." Then I jumped as lightning struck just outside the academy. "The closest shelter is that abandoned shack on the hill above us! Come on! Shock! Let's go!" I mounted Shock and waited for Tyra to mount Firefly. "Tyra, come on!"

Tyra then sighed and mounted Firefly. "Lead the way," she said.

We all flew off to the shack together. Once we got there I said, "Well, it looks like we're sitting out the storm together. Ugh, from just a few seconds in the rain, we're soaked! I'm gonna look around, see if there's any clothes in here. I'm freezing! I'll change upstairs and you can change down here." I looked around the entire shack and found some clothes that would actually fit us. "Here's some stuff." I threw her clothes down to her. "Don't worry, I won't come down until you're done. Agh! It's still freezing in here!"

"That's because this place is abandoned, you idiot," she said with extreme sarcasm in her voice. "Light the fireplace, Ventus." She then started to take off her rider gear as she was in no way ashamed.

I knew she had started to change by the sound of the buckles on her rider gear so instead of going down to light the fire, I told Shock to do it. "Shock. Fire please." He shot a plasma blast into the fire place and got a nice fire going. "Ah. Much better already. Alright, I'm done changing. Tell me when you're done, Tyra."

"I'm done," she said as she untied her braid and let her long, golden hair down.

"K. Coming down now." I noticed Tyra sitting down and sat down next to her. "Hey Tyra, what do you think is going on at the village? I mean listen to this storm! It's insane!"

"Simple, they're probably doing what they usually do when a storm hits," she said as she looked up from running her fingers through her hair. "The other dragons are also probably with them."

That reassured me. "Alright…Hey, what's up? No girl just randomly runs her fingers through her hair when she's alone with a boy…is it about what I said earlier?"

She then looked at me and sarcastically said, "Or I'm just trying to get the tangles out." She then closed her eyes.

I just squinted as I was deep in thought. "Hm…alright. Well, how about we get some sleep? It's actually kind of late. I'll sleep down here, on the bench…I only saw one bed. You can have it."

"I'm fine down here." She then opened her eyes and turned her head so the light from the fire made her eyes seem like they were glowing green.

I just stared at Tyra. "Wow. The fire makes your eyes look like they're sparkling!" I then blushed and looked away. "Uhm…I'm just gonna go to sleep now." I grabbed a blanket. "Goodnight." I lied down on the bench and tried to sleep.

Firefly and Shock were talking and Tyra could understand them. "Wimp," Shock grumbled. Firefly just laughed. Tyra looked at me and blinked while she said, "What the heck?"

I pulled my blanket over my head and said, "Nothing. Goodnight."

"I'm sure it was nothing," said Firefly as he cackled at me. "Um, ok…" said Tyra. She leaned on Firefly and was still looking confused. She eventually fell asleep.

I started to wake up the next morning, extremely groggy. I yawned and didn't remember much of the day before. Hey, where am I? Oh, that's right. The storm. Sounds like it's over. I wonder where Tyra is, I thought as a sat up. I looked over to the dead fire and saw Tyra's peaceful, sleeping figure. Wow. She looks so peaceful. I guess I'd better wake her up so we can get out of this shack. I walked over to Tyra and shook her lightly to wake her up. "Tyra. Wake up. The storm's over."

Her eyes shot open and she pinned me to the ground with a dagger to my throat. I had expected a reaction like this so I just smirked and said, "Good morning, grumpy."

She blinked to focus her eyes and eventually responded with, "Good morning."

I then blushed as I realized something. "Uhm…Tyra? Could you get off me? You're kind of really close to me, literally." She just leaned closer and narrowed her eyes. I turned a deep shade of red and said, "Uhm, you just got closer."

She then got so close that our noses touched and said, "And?"

I just turned entirely red all over. The dragons started teasing us. I got even more red as I realized the dragons were watching. Tyra finally got off of me. I slowly stood up, completely flustered, and said, "Ahem, well, now that that's over…Shock! Come on, let's go." I stepped outside, mounted Shock, and flew to the highest mountain in Berk to cool off.

Tyra just shrugged and wondered if she should go swimming with her friends.

Nothing happened for a while after that and I had eventually left the mountain. I was watching Tyra and Snotlout spar with their swords. She dodged a slice from Snotlout and easily flipped him over her shoulder. "Impressive," I said. Then I started blushing a little bit as I remembered what happened that morning.

Tyra put her sword under Snotlout's chin and said, "Surrender." Snotlout just glared at Tyra and Tyra had blank face.

From the side, I said, "Just give up Snotlout. Tyra's just as tough as, if not tougher, than even Astrid."

Astrid was walking by me and when she heard this, she punched me hard in the arm and said, "That's for saying I'm not the toughest!" Then she walked away.

"Ok, is that just a thing with her?" I asked as I looked back at Tyra.

Tyra mumbled under her breath, "Yeah, but you weren't hated and beaten for being who you are." Snotlout then decided to give up as he scowled.

"Finally! You know you had no chance, Snotlout." Snotlout then charged at me so I just drew my sword and pointed it towards him and he stopped. "I wouldn't. I'm just as good with a sword as Tyra, remember? We're the best swordsmen on the entire island." Tyra looked as bored as she could be. I decided to strike a conversation, saying, "Hey Tyra. May I ask why you didn't sleep in the bed at the shack and why you did…what you did this morning?" I was blushing slightly as I said that last part.

She answered with, "I stayed downstairs so I could be close to the fire because I prefer the heat and I did what I did this morning out of habit."

"Alright then…" I was still blushing.

"Yup," Tyra said before she whistled and Firefly landed. "I'm going flying for a while."

My face brightened up at the mention of this. I had a chance to fly and be alone with Tyra at the same time. Two in one. "I think I'll join you. I love a nice flight around the island. Shock! Come here please." I mounted Shock and said, "Shall we go?"

She turned her head to me and tried to scare me with her eyes. "Your green eyes don't scare me. They just amaze me…" I stared at Tyra for a few seconds. "I just said it out loud again…ya…I'm just not gonna worry anymore. I don't think it really matters. So, are we gonna fly or what?"

She just glared at me and said, "It's not my eyes that should scare you…it's the story behind them." Then she took off flying.

I stared after Tyra then took off after her. "Wait! What are you talking about the story behind your eyes? Look, can we land so we can talk?"

"We can talk just fine up here," said Tyra.

All of sudden Shock tensed up under me and I realized something was wrong. "Tyra, get down. Draw your sword…Shock, get ready. We're not alone up here…" I started looking around frantically. Tyra snapped into Viking mode and drew her sword. Then a small, blue explosion appeared next to me and I yelled. I recognized what the blast was. "Agh! It's a wild Night Fury! But why would a Night Fury attack us? We haven't done anything! Tyra, please go land somewhere, you can't match our speed! Another explosion appeared but this time it was next to Tyra. "Tyra! Are you ok?"

Tyra was inhaling and exhaling as her eyes opened to reveal cat-like pupils with glowing green eyes. "I'm fine. Firefly? Take me down…please," she said.

"Don't worry," I said. "I'll be fine. Shock, prepare yourself…" I started waiting for the sound of a Night Fury at full speed. "Shock…GO!" I yelled as I heard the wild Night Fury. Shock was now trailing the wild Night Fury. "Fire!" Shock shot a plasma blast but the wild Night Fury dodged it. "Fire again!" Shock shot again and it missed again. "Wow, we're good but we've never been up against a wild Night Fury. Agh!" Another explosion appeared in front of us and I was temporarily blinded. The Night Fury then rammed at full speed into the side of Shock but Shock wasn't hurt very badly since my leg was in the way. I heard a crack as I fell off of Shock and started to fall, but I didn't have time to worry about it. Shock was diving after me but wouldn't be able to reach me in time. As I was falling, I noticed Tyra on the ground below me and I shouted, "Tyra! Help!"

Firefly flew straight up and Tyra grabbed my arm while Shock was looking at me with concern after he'd gotten away from the wild Night Fury. "Are you ok?" she asked.

"Ya. I think so. Just some minor burns from the blast and the Night Fury hit my leg but I think I'm fine. That hurt. Let's get out of the sky. We obviously can't deal with this wild Night Fury right now. Tyra, let's get back to the village. We have to warn Stoick that there's an aggressive, wild Night Fury on Berk," I said.

Tyra sighed as she said, "Ok. Let's go."

We landed in the village and I got off of Firefly to tell Stoick about the Night Fury when I screamed in agony. "Agh! Darn it! I was afraid of this. When that Night Fury rammed us, my leg was in the way, but I didn't have time to worry about it since I started falling right afterwards. It's broken. This is just perfect…and painful…Tyra, warn Stoick about the Night Fury! I need to get to my house and put a cast on my leg," I said as I hobbled off, supported by Shock.

Tyra took off running and finally saw Stoick and Gobber. "Stoick! A wild Night Fury is here on Berk! We last saw it near the edges of the island," she explained.

Back at my house, I was just having the time of my life (sarcasm). "Well, this is just perfect. Shock, could you grab the bandages for me to make a cast?" I asked. Shock then grabbed the bandages with his mouth and brought them to me. "Thank you, kind dragon," I said. The next problem was that my room was upstairs and I had a broken leg. "Now can you help me get up the stairs? I need to get in bed," I explained. Then we both struggled to get up the stairs but eventually made it. I lied down on my bed and said, "Thanks, Shock." He looked at me with a dragon version of a smile on his face.

"Ventus?" Tyra was down outside the house and I really wanted to see her.

"Tyra! Come in! I'm upstairs!" I shouted back.

She walked inside and up to my room with a bandage on her cheek. As I looked at her, confused, she explained with a light smile, "The fire blast got me."

"Aw. I'm sorry. That darn Night Fury! Why would it attack us? How did Stoic take the news? Actually, how did Hiccup take the news? Does he even know yet?" I asked.

Tyra then blushed a little and said, "I uh…I was actually worried about you, so I rushed here. I don't know their reactions to all this."

I blushed too at that point and said, "Oh…thanks…that's very kind of you…" Shock and Firefly were, at that point, looking at each other and giving their dragon smirks.

Tyra then glared at them and said, "Get your heads out of the gutter!"

I was still blushing but I laughed. Then I realized that Tyra couldn't go out at night with an aggressive Night Fury on the loose. So I asked her with a blush, "Uhm, Tyra? Do you want to uhm…stay here overnight? I have an extra bed." Then I stopped blushing and started to kind of show-off. "I'm just as handy with tools as Hiccup. I made this device where the wall can slide out. That little section of the wall with the handle on it is the part that slides out and it has the bed in it."

Tyra just leaned forward, towards me and whispered, "What are you offering, Ventus?"

I then started getting slightly flustered and said, "I'm not offering anything. I'm just wondering if you wanted to stay here tonight." Then I started grinning as I was about to mess with her again. "Besides, I'll need someone to help me walk around tomorrow. Plus, that Night Fury could attack at any time? What if it attacked tonight? We can be ready. Even if I have a broken leg, I can still ride Shock…even though it will hurt."

She then sighed and stood up. "I only came to see if you're not dying…" she said. Then she turned around and wrapped her hair in a bun, when I noticed a dragon-shaped birthmark on her neck. I could tell it wasn't a tattoo.

I was amazed as I said, "Whoa! What is that? It looks so cool!"

She then covered the birthmark with her hand and said, "Nothing."

I did not buy that. "That wasn't nothing. That is in the perfect shape of a dragon and it is not a tattoo. What is it?"

Tyra then looked down and said, "I'm not from Berk."

I looked in shock, wondering if I heard correctly. "What? Really? Where are you from?" I asked.

She then looked at me and said, "I'm from a now underwater kingdom called Drock. It went underwater because there was a woman who defied the gods and gave birth to a half-blood. It wasn't an ordinary half-blood. It was a hybrid of human and dragon. The chief of Drock wanted to use the half-blood as a weapon of war."

I just stared in shock and said, "So what happened after that?"

She then looked down again and said, "The gods, mostly Odin, were angered that a mere mortal woman could bear a child of dragon blood…the gods whispered into the ear of the chief's wife to kill the woman and the child. That night, the storms hit. Massive tidal waves, deafening winds. I remember the chief carrying me off that to a boat just before the storm, and sailing off with me. The woman and the chief's wife were never found after that." She then shuddered at the horrible memories.

One thing really caught my ear, though. "Wait, the chief was carrying you? When did you get in the story? What happened to the half-blood? Wait…by Odin! Are you…are you the half-blood?"

She then looked up and locked gazes with me, confirming my suspicion. She then turned around and said, "Yes, I am the half-blood. I am the weapon of Drock. I feared for Berk when Stoic agreed for me to be his ward." My eyes widened at this.

"But if your mother was killed when you were a baby, why did you say, earlier, that she used to say that you speaking to dragons was a gift from Odin?" I asked.

She then sighed and said, "It's because Odin was the one who told my mother she could give birth to a monster."

I then started to get defensive for her, "So this is why you called yourself a freak earlier…well, I repeat what I said. You're not a freak or a monster! I'm saying this for you and for…for me…you are a strong, talented, amazing Viking and don't you ever feel otherwise! I would never let you think so badly of yourself. You're amazing, Tyra."

She then held up her hand and her skin gave way to black scales before returning to normal. "Do you think that is normal?"

"Well of course it's not normal, but it doesn't make you a freak or a monster!" Then I tried lightening the mood and said, "If anything, it makes you fireproof under that skin, which is cool." Then I got serious again and before I said anything else, I sat up and hugged her in a deep embrace, as she was now sitting on my bed. I kept her in my long embrace and said, "Stop making yourself feel bad. I won't let you do that to yourself." Then I broke the hug, grabbed her shoulders, gazed right into her emerald eyes, and said, "You are amazing." She gave a bitter smile and I decided to let go of her now. "Now, since we're both done and it's way too late for you to walk home with an angry Night Fury on the loose, why don't you sleep here on the extra bed?"

She looked at me questioningly and asked, "After reliving those memories?"

I looked at her and said, "Yes. Sleep will do you good, especially if you sleep here. If you have any nightmares, I am right here."

Then she just lied down on my bed under the blankets with me and stared at me with her emerald eyes and just said, "I told you before, I like the heat."

I just blushed and lied down and said, "Uhm…ok…well…goodnight."

She closed her eyes and said, "Your mind is perverted."

To this I got very flustered and sat up in bed saying, "Wait, what? I'm just not used to sleeping in the same bed with a girl…in fact…I'm not used to being very close to girls at all, that's why I freaked out when you were on top of me and leaning in towards me in the shack during the storm."

She cracked one of her emerald eyes open and said, "Lie down."

I then calmed down, seeing as she was just being herself. She liked the heat so she shared a bed with me. I then said, "Ok…" I lied down and turned over to face Tyra, who was actually closer than I thought she'd be. Our faces were nearly touching. She looked so peaceful, so I cracked a warm smile and said, "Goodnight, Tyra." To this, she just turned around, and turned her back to me. I was confused and said, "Alrighty then…"

Sometime very early in the morning, Tyra opened her eyes, which were glowing, and slowly got off the bed. She went to Shock and said, "Shock, wake up." I slightly stirred in my sleep, but then went back to a deep sleep. "Shock, wake up!" She started shaking Shock, trying to get him to wake up. I heard the sound of Shock's gear being shaken, so I cracked one eye slightly open to see what was going on. Tyra noticed this and waved her hand, causing mist to surround me and put me back into a deep sleep. I started having a dream, and muttered some inaudible words in my sleep. Tyra rolled her eyes with a fond smile then went back to Shock. "Shock, wake up now!" I muttered more inaudible words except for one word: Tyra. Tyra then blinked in surprise but shrugged it off. "Shock, you want to go hunt for that wild Night Fury?" I must have somehow heard that in my sleep because I muttered the word, "Night Fury" in my sleep. Tyra then sighed, sat next to me, and said, "Sleep." I muttered more inaudible words. Tyra got up and woke up Firefly, who immediately recognized his rider's voice. "We need to go Night Fury hunting," said Tyra. "You're insane, we can't keep up with its speed," said Firefly. "We don't have to. Let's go!" said Tyra. She mounted Firefly and took off into the night.

Once she left, her sleeping spell lost its effect on me and I woke up. I noticed Tyra wasn't there. "Tyra...Shock, we have to go!" I said. Shock immediately woke up, recognizing his rider's voice. I mounted Shock and said, "Let's go!"

During her flight, Tyra revealed the black scales under her skin, which happened to be Night Fury scales. This time, though, they were all over her body. "Firefly, dive!" she said as she threw herself off the Nadder and onto the back of the Night Fury.

When I was close enough, I saw Firefly diving and I saw the blurred figure of the Night Fury. "She went after the Night Fury! Unbelievable! Shock, go!"

"This is most likely the most idiotic thing I've ever done…oh well." Tyra pushed the wings of the Night Fury shut and the two started falling to the water like a brick.

I saw the Night Fury start to fall and saw Tyra on its back. "Tyra! No! Shock, hurry!" Shock started heading full speed at the falling Night Fury and dove next to it. I shouted at Tyra saying, "Tyra! Grab my hand!"

Tyra looked at me and smiled sadly. "A martyr's death shall rise Drock and its people. I was destined to die."

I just got really determined at that point. "Nope! That is not gonna happen!" I grabbed Tyra's arm and just as the Night Fury was about to hit the water, I pulled her off and Shock stopped diving. "Don't ever do that again! Do you have any idea how scared I was for you?" I started tearing up as we flew back to the village. She looked away and hid her scales again. "Why did you leave to fight the Night Fury on your own?" I asked.

She avoided the question and said, "You didn't know that if you push a dragon's wings together, it falls like a brick?"

"Of course I knew that. A dragon can't fly if it can't move its wings…but why'd you go after it in the middle of the night without me?" Tyra didn't respond. "Alright…when we get back to the house, can you please actually sleep for the rest of the night? I'm tired and you should be too."

"I'm part dragon, I don't tire easily," she said.

"Just sleep. While it may be awkward for me when you sleep next to me, it is nice to have your company," I said. To this, she rolled her eyes. I just blushed a little and said, "Well, there it is. Come on. Shock, land us softly please. My leg still hurts," I said. Tyra closed her eyes. I winced a little when Shock landed but it wasn't too bad. "Ok, Tyra. We're here. Let's get inside." We dismounted Shock and I started walking in, supported by him, but I stopped when I noticed Tyra stretching and not following. "You coming inside? You may not be tired, but you look like you need some company. We've been friends for years now. Don't tell me that's gonna change just because I know your secret now."

"I have multiple secrets, Ventus," she said.

"I believe you but that doesn't mean we're going to stop being friends, does it?" I asked.

"Ha. No. I'm just going to watch the sunrise," she said.

"I guess I'll watch with you then," I said. Tyra sat down on the cliff next to my house. I sat right next to her. I put my arm around her giving a warm smile, saying, "You said you like the heat, right?" Then she did something I wasn't expecting. I was expecting her to threaten me to take my arm off, or punch me in the arm, but she didn't. Instead, she put her head on my shoulder. I then decided to say something cheesy and said, "I won't ever leave your side, Tyra. No matter how different you are, I will stay right here." She just closed her eyes and started sleeping on my shoulder. I leaned my head on hers and watched the sunrise. Then I closed my eyes and started sleeping too. Best moment ever, I thought as I fell asleep.