Chapter 3
(Toothless' POV)
I was pouncing on the roof trying to wake my hatchling up to go out flying this morning, but she didn't seem to hear me. I was about to go inside and drag her out when I heard her voice already outside. So she hadn't even been inside. 'Just as clever as the day you built my tail.' I thought.
"Toothless, come on down Bud. I've got something for ya'." I was presently in front of her. She had something in her arms, it smelled like the tail she gave me, but this one was different. For one thing it didn't have the saddle attached to it and it smelled brand new. "What do you think of that? Yeah." She asked moving behind me.
I toyed around a little pulling my tail out of her reach. In honesty, I was anxious to see what she was carrying. "Would you just settle down? Toothless, come on Bud, let me get this on you." I was right it was a new tail. "Yeah you are going to love this." She clicked the final piece into place. "Okay." She said patting my tail.
This new tail felt weird. I was so used to the old one I had forgotten what it felt like to not have a saddle attached. I didn't like it. I tried to thrust it off with Hiccup yelling at me to stop. At one point I opened the other half of my tail and the new half opened with it. This surprised me. It had been so long since I saw what my tail looked like before it was hurt. I tested it out and saw that it opened and closed with my remaining tail as if it had never been missing to begin with.
"There you go. See, got it?" I heard Hiccup ask.
I turned my head and looked at her for a second. 'We can go look for your helmet now.' I thought. Hiccup looked at me uncertain. Then I had an idea.
"Toothless…" Hiccup started to say reaching out for me.
I took off into the sky. I decided to look for her helmet myself. It would be my gift to her. After she restored my ability to fly, this was the least I could do. It felt good to fly under my own weight again but it also felt so empty not having Hiccup on my back.
'Just for a little while.' I thought. "Be safe Hiccup. I'll be back soon." I called as I flew higher and higher into the sky.
(Hiccup's POV)
I watched Toothless as he flew away. I didn't know whether to be happy or sad. I was happy because I gave Toothless back what I took away from him, but at the same time I was sad that he took off like that. Some part of me knew that it was going to happen, I just hoped that that part of me was wrong.
I was standing out on a cliff watching Toothless fly around with his new tail, enjoying the ability to fly on his own again. I called out to him and he flew over to me. I smiled and reached out to hug him, but he disappeared as soon as I touched him. I looked down and saw that I wasn't standing on the cliff anymore, I was up in the air and feeling very scared.
I opened my eyes in shock. I looked around and saw Toothless' bed was still empty. I laid back down and hoped to heard Toothless pounding on the roof again. When I heard nothing, I rolled over onto my side. Then I heard a thump. I paused and listened then I heard it again, louder this time. I sat up and listened harder, the thumping continued.
"Toothless!" I exclaimed racing out of the house. "I knew you'd come back… whoa!" I cried slipping on the ice.
I landed on my back and saw who had been making the thumping sounds. It was my Dad fixing the roof.
"Morning lass!" he greeted bright eyed and bushy tailed as Toothless was every morning.
"Oh, hey Dad." I said getting up feeling disappointed.
"Glad you're up. I was looking for your helmet." He said stepping down.
I froze for a second and then quickly got a grip. "My, my. helmet?" I said trying to sound clueless.
"Odin needs a place to put your goodies." Dad reminded me.
"Yeah right, I'll, uh, get on that. Great." I muttered. 'How am I going to tell him I lost it flying with Toothless?'
Dad seemed to notice my less than cheerful demeanor. "Hold on." He called making me pause. "Hold on. Alright, come on, what's on your mind? Out with it."
"Well it's been three days Dad, I, I just thought Toothless would be back by now." I explained.
"I'm sure he's with the other dragons." Dad offered.
"Yea, I wish I could be that sure." I replied. 'What if Astrid was right and he doesn't want to come back?'
"Listen, I know what's like to miss someone you love this time of year, but we do when they can't be here for the holiday, we celebrate them and I imagine that's exactly what Toothless would want you to do." Dad explained offering the advice as a comfort. "Right?"
"You're right." I replied.
"Good! Now go get that helmet, we've had enough disappointment around here." He said returning to the roof.
I went about my business that morning doing little favors around the village. I was bringing a pair of oars to the docks when I bumped into Fishlegs carrying a basket full of fish.
"Ohh, Fishlegs you hungry? There's enough fish there to feed a dragon." I joked.
He looked at me uncomfortable and laughed back. "Oh, oh, oh, oh. A dragon…yes." He said turning away in a hurry.
I followed him to one of the barns and saw him go in. When he came out, the basket was gone and left looking rather sneaky. When he was gone, I opened the door to see what he was hiding. As soon as the doors were open, I saw a dragon fly right at me. I didn't even have time to move out of the way. It rammed right into me and carried me with into the sky.
"Meatlug?" I exclaimed recognizing the dragon.
I heard Astrid call out to me. "Hiccup? Where are you going?" she called out in as much surprise as I felt.
"I have no idea!" I called back as we left the island.
The farther we got, the more I realized I had to get on her back before I fell into the sea. It wasn't easy because she was so much bigger than Toothless, but I finally managed to climb on and secure myself to her back.
(Narrator's POV)
Astrid ran and found the others. They all met in the barn where Astrid had seen Hiccup flying from on Meatlug.
"I can't believe her." Fishlegs said feeling hurt.
"You can't believe her! You kidnapped your dragon!" Astrid ranted.
"Well that makes it sound so mean." Fishlegs whimpered.
No one seemed to notice the twins rummaging through the hay. "Hey guys." Tuffnut said trying to get their attention.
"He flew away the second he was unleashed." Astrid ranted again.
"I'm seventy-two percent sure he wanted to stay." Fishlegs argued.
"Guys!" Tuffnut yelled. Turning everyone's attention to the hay.
"Whoa, Meatlug barfed up a pile of rocks." Fishlegs exclaimed.
"You're such an idiot, those aren't rocks. Your dragon laid eggs." Ruffnut huffed.
"Hey wait. I bet that's why the dragons left, to lay their eggs." Astrid realized.
"But boy dragons don't lay eggs." Fishlegs reasoned.
"Yeah your boy dragon is a girl dragon." Ruffnut brought to light.
"Okay that actually explains a few things." Fishlegs realized.
"Hey everyone's missing their dragons right?" Astrid exclaimed standing up and running for a crate of supplies for the holidays.
"Oh here it comes." Snotlout groaned.
"I've got an idea. It'll be another new Snoggletog tradition." She explained holding up an egg she had just wrapped in a bow. Every one helped her decorate the eggs.
"Oh this is going to be so good." Astrid whispered feeling excited.
All the teens snuck around the village hiding the eggs around in people's houses for them to find.
