THE FLIGHT
"This. Is. It." Hiccup said, slamming the front door behind him and shutting out the outside world, "The last straw. Come on, Toothless. We're-Toothless?"
Confused, Hiccup briefly looked around the house before he discovered the problem. With a facepalm, he walked back to the front door and opened it again.
"Sorry about that, bud," He apologized, holding the door open.
Toothless gave him a look, but sauntered inside nonetheless.
"It's just, I've had enough," Hiccup said, closing the door again and starting to head upstairs, "There's that-that thing in the Great Hall with all the neighboring Chiefs, and for once in my life I'm actually invited to join them, but I can't because Ruffnut and Tuffnut decided to explode themselves again, and just as I'm cleaning up their mess for them, Snotlout decides to get Fishlegs in trouble with the Scauldrons, and Astrid is nowhere to be found because-surprise!-she is already in the Great Hall with all the Chiefs, and I have to fix the whole Snotlout problem by myself! Gee-Hiccup-I-had-no-idea-that-would-happen, and-wow-it's-a-complete-mystery-how-Fishlegs-got-there!"
Toothless bore Hiccup's rant with all the patience of a long-suffering friend.
"Of course, it's not really that that's bothering me," Hiccup said, "There's the trouble with the dragons on the mountains, the Gronkles who tried to eat the visiting Chief's ships-why on earth would they get it into their head to try eating ships now?-and then that little dragon got stuck up in a tree, and I still don't know why it wouldn't fly down, and I didn't get much sleep this week, except for when I got that bump on the head the other day-"
Toothless interrupted with a growl.
"You're right, buddy, I'm sorry," Hiccup said, probably misunderstanding the nature of the growl, "I really shouldn't be complaining. It's just that, sometimes, it drives me crazy! Why do they always ask me to do things?"
They had reached Hiccup's room by now, and Hiccup quickly fell onto the bed.
"Oh well, the Great Hall is definitely out by now," he said, "It's too late for me to join them, isn't it Toothless? The great meeting is probably long over. And I'm sure as soon as we step outside, someone is going to ask us to do something else for them anyway."
Toothless just laid his head down to rest on top of Hiccup, and sighed.
"I guess you're tired too, aren't you?" Hiccup asked, "Still, we missed our flight today. It'll be a while until dark. Why don't we fly off for good?"
Toothless rolled his eyes.
"No, I mean it!" Hiccup said, jumping off the bed and randomly throwing items around, supposedly to make a neat pile of them. Toothless glared at him, as if that stare could force Hiccup back onto the bed so that he could have his comfortable pillow back.
"I mean, Astrid can handle things here. And then I won't have to apologize to the neighboring chiefs for not showing up. Dad won't be disgraced, and it's not like they really need me around here..."
Toothless watched Hiccup scurry about the room, collecting everything he thought that they would need for their long journey.
"Can't forget food and water," he said, "And a note for Dad..."
Within fifteen minutes, everything was packed and ready, and although Toothless hesitated for just a fraction of a second, he allowed Hiccup to fly him out the window and into the sky.
"Alright!" Hiccup shouted, the wind in his face starting to exhilarate him, "Toothless, I don't care where we're going, as long as it's far from Berk. I'm letting you steer, okay? Just tell me which way to work the pedal."
Toothless turned to him and gave a small scream to let him know he understood.
"And go fast!" Hiccup shouted, "As fast as you can!"
Toothless grinned in anticipation, and the two of them flew so fast that Berk was soon covered behind them in the clouds. Not that this meant they were far away; Berk had been sort of foggy that day to begin with. Still, it felt good to leave Berk behind them. Hiccup relaxed against Toothless, and only moved the pedal when Toothless signaled him which direction he wanted them to go in.
The wind! The clouds! The speed! The freedom! It felt so good!
They had been flying for sometime over an hour when Hiccup started to feel guilty.
Another hour, and he began to sigh. By the third hour, when it was starting to shift in his seat. By the fourth hour, he was feeling entirely guilty.
"Maybe I was a little hurried back there, Toothless," he said, "I mean, what was I thinking? Like just running away would solve the problems."
Toothless turned to look at him, but didn't offer to turn around and fly the other way. Hiccup didn't either, and so the two of them stayed silent for about forty-five minutes.
"I know I've got a lot of responsibilities," Hiccup said, breaking the silence, "But can't I take a break? Just once?"
Toothless didn't respond in any way, other than to keep flying.
Hiccup sighed.
"Alright," he said, "I get it. I've got responsibilities. I'll go home, and I'll take care of them. I'll apologize to the chiefs, I'll probably stop the twins and Snotlout from doing something stupid, and I'll get a good night's sleep."
Toothless warbled happily.
"Hey, wait a minute," Hiccup smiled, "You didn't stop me from leaving, because you figured that I would calm down in the air. Is that so, buddy?"
Toothless turned to smile at him, almost as if he were laughing. Hiccup outright laughed himself.
"Sometimes, I think you know me better than I know myself," he said, patting the dragon. He looked up at the sunset. "Still, it's getting late. We probably won't make it make to Berk by tonight, so we'd better find someplace to rest."
Suddenly Hiccup groaned, and threw his hands over his face.
"I am such an idiot," he said, "What was I thinking, running away? And leaving that note for Dad-they're all going to be worried when they find out that we're missing. Oh man, I am going to be in so much trouble when we get home!"
Toothless continued his forward flight.
"Well, I guess I can handle the punishment," Hiccup said, "After all, I've been handling just about everything else lately. On the bright side, this is the longest ride we've had in a while. Guess I needed that, Toothless."
Toothless warbled again, still flying forward.
"Um, Toothless?" Hiccup said, "Think we can turn around and start heading home?"
Toothless gave Hiccup a questioning look.
"Yes I'm sure," Hiccup said, "I really don't want to run away today, Toothless."
Toothless nodded his head, pleased that Hiccup finally came to his senses, and dutifully changed course.
"Find us a nice island to spend the night, will you?" Hiccup asked, "We'll head back to Berk first thing in the morning."
They continued flying.
"Um, Toothless?" Hiccup asked, "Isn't Berk the other way?"
Toothless growled at him.
"Fine, have it your way!" Hiccup said, "Just get us to an island as fast as you can, alright?"
Toothless nodded, still facing straight ahead.
"Good," Hiccup said, "And thanks."
Toothless laughed again, his way of saying you're welcome. Hiccup sighed, and leaned against the dragon. As soon as he did, however, he felt the dragon decline sharply.
"Whoa, an island already?" He asked, looking up.
Through the clouds, there slowly appeared an island. It seemed plentiful-forests, mountains, everything a good island could want.
"Wow, it looks nice," Hiccup said, "Good choice, Tooth-"
Suddenly, the clouds retreated from even more of the island and Hiccup gave out a cry of surprise. He would have fallen backwards if Toothless didn't need his foot to work the pedal, but he recovered quickly, and at the same time he realized that Toothless had never actually stopped laughing.
"Toothless! You overgrown terror!" He said, swatting at the dragon's ear, "What were you thinking?"
Toothless didn't respond, but continued laughing. Hiccup groaned.
"I can't believe it," he said, "Have we seriously been flying in circles this whole time?"
Toothless descended, and soon the two of them were flying low through the village square. Not long after that, Toothless swiftly flew into the window of Hiccup's bedroom.
"Wow," Hiccup said as he hopped off the dragon, "We just spent five hours up there, in circles! Toothless!"
Toothless chuckled, and with his teeth he gently grabbed the note Hiccup had left for his dad. Hiccup took it from him gratefully and promptly tore it to pieces.
"Come on, bud," he said, "Before anything else happens, let's go see the chiefs in the great hall. They might still be there, after all, they're vikings. Vikings practically live for great halls, especially when they have food. Then we're both going to bed. How does that sound?"
Toothless warbled, and then, acting as if he hadn't just flown with Hiccup around Berk for five hours, nearly pranced down the stairs, daring Hiccup to try and catch up with him.
The End