A/N: I am truly sorry for the wait. I can't promise to be on schdule again for a while, but I'll try to update as much as I can. So this chapter is a little sloppy, and it gets kinda sad at the end. Oh, and credit goes to Xandrea because I'm using her Nightmare, Vail, in a small part. So anyway, enjoy!
I think I'm crazy. I had a weird dream about a Pegasus, and now, all I think about is her. Or him? I dunno, I'm losing my mind! I'm such a mess! How is it, that uncle Gobber's story is effecting me so much? It's just a story... Right? Anyway, I hope Hiccup won't notice my tiredness in class today... But of course, he will. And on only my third day. Sigh. That's my life for ya. Up, down, up, down, up, down...
Catfishes eyes snapped open. She jolted upright, causing her bed to squeal. Images of the winged horse flashed through her mind. Her breathing became more and more rapid, as she thought of last night's events. "Catfish!" Emberlight yelled from the hallway, causing an already jumpy Cat to scream. "What? What happened?" Ember stood in the doorway, looking at her frazzled sister. "N-Nothing! I'm fine! What's your problem?" Cat snapped.
Ember put her hands up, and backed up a few steps. "Nothing, geez. Just came up to say that it's time for breakfast." The 8 year old responded, turning around to march down the stairs, leaving Catfish to change and come downstairs. As soon the shaky preteen had eaten, they left for DTA. The blonde walked through the iron gates, and saw Hiccup and the rest of the class in one of the classrooms.
Catfish and Emberlight walked over to the area. "Ah, Cat, Ember, glad you could join us... Er... Catfish, are you alright?" Hiccup asked the half asleep girl. "HUH? Oh y-yes! I'm fine!" Catfish jerked awake. "If you're not feeling well..." Hiccup started, eyeing her. "No, no, I'm fine, I promise." The 12 year old responded. "All right. Anyway, has anyone seen Shadowcore?" Hiccup asked, looking at the group.
So far, only Hailstone, Angelwing, Oakleaf, Fireblade, Arrowgaze, and Hawkwind had arrived. Stormaxe and Shadowcore hadn't arrived yet. "Are you looking for me?" A pair of strong arms wrapped themselves around poor Catfish. The blonde was turning a deep red, for everyone knew that Shadow was the most handsome guy in the class other than Hiccup. All the girls in DTA were very much in love with him. Even Cat had a slight crush on him.
"You don't wanna hug that filthy mutt! Hug me instead!" Oak opened her arms wide, expecting Shadow to crash into her, and make out with her. Instead, he looked at her like she had gone mad. "What? Is there something on my face?" Oak looked hurt. "No, I'm just very comfortable hugging Catfish." Shadow responded, and Cat felt him shrug his shoulders. The poor girl squirmed uncomfortably, but sadly, that only made Shadow sit down and rest his head on top of hers affectionately.
"Um, ok, so has anyone seen Stormaxe?" Hiccup asked, trying to ignore Shadow's flirty mood. Shadow had two different sides. A dark, shy side, and a flirty mysterious side. He showed his flirty side more, which resulted in girls loving him. "I'm here." Stormaxe walked into the area and plopped down. "Ok, well, then I guess we can start the lesson! We can go to Toothless' Cove today."
"Could you please let go of her?" Oak asked sweetly. "Why?" Shadow asked, looking at her innocently. "Um, she has B.O." Oak sniffed. "No, she doesn't. Do you?" Shadow said, raising his eyebrows. Catfish covered her mouth with her palm and snickered. "Um, GUYS!" Hailstone shouted, standing up stiffly. "I wanna get the lesson started!" She spat, looking annoyed.
"Yeah, seriously guys." Hawkwind said un-seriously, putting on a pair of nerd glasses, a fake nose, and a fake beard. Everyone laughed, and found themselves in the cove , soon. Catfish kept hearing noises as they had walked, and would whirl around to see if it was the horse. But it was always a squirrel, or the wind. "Ok guys, let's ride some dragons!" Hiccup exclaimed. "WHAT?!" Everyone shouted, excitedly. Hiccup had told them they wouldn't be flying for quite a while. "No, no flying. Just ground work. We have some dragons for you guys to use!" Hiccup exclaimed.
On cue, Astrid, Stormfly, and a bunch of other dragons flew in. Astrid seemed to be herding them in. "Ok guys, I'm gonna pair with your partner for until we get real dragons. You'll take care of them, and learn their ways. You might even get to keep them, if you make a real bond." Hiccup smiled at all his excited students. "Give me a minute to talk to Astrid, I'll be back in a few." He said the same thing twice, because he always got nervous when alone with Astrid. The blond teen grabbed her boyfriend's arm, and dragged him off.
When she stopped, she slugged Hiccup in the arm. "That was for treating me like your slave." She spat, angrily. "What? Then, why-" He was cut off by Astrid pressing her lips against his, while strangling his rib cage. "That was for... I actually don't know what that was for." She shrugged her shoulders. "Anyway, I just wanted you to tell your mom that I'm going to keep the dragons here for a while." Hiccup said. Astrid's mom was the dragon keeper of Berk, and she was in charge of the places the dragons went. Everyone had to come to her if they wanted to take some of Berk's dragons that didn't have owners somewhere else.
"I had better get back to the kids, Shadowcore might be teaching them how to curse people, or Hawkwind might be doing something so funny the kids die of laughter, or-" Hiccup was cut off once more by his beautiful girlfriend. "Stop worrying. I'm sure they're fine."
*Meanwhile*
Shadow was trying to start a fire, while Catfish was swimming for her life in the freezing cold lake, and everyone else was either chanting scary curses with Shadow, or trying to help Cat from freezing to death. "So who's ready for... CATFISH!" Hiccup entered, then spotted the poor girl trying to escape death. He dashed down the bank, yelled at Shadow and the boys to stop chanting curses, and called for Toothless. Said Night Fury was at Hiccup's side in minutes.
The teen mounted, and they were off. Toothless swooped down, and grabbing the shivering girl. When they dropped her on land, she fainted. "Ok guys, we gotta go to the healer. You guys walk back, I have to hurry and get Cat to Gothi." Hiccup instructed, and plopped Catfish down on Toothless.
As they flew, Catfish started to awaken. "Dad... Dad... in the lake... Cold... Drowned... Mom... Sad...because of... d-dragons..." Catfish murmered, in a trance. Hiccup looked at her, mouth wide open. That explained why her dad wasn't around. Poor girl. "Um, just stay with me, You're dad would, uh, want you to stay alive, I think." He said, urging Toothless to go faster. When they landed, he noticed that Catfish had tear streaks in her eyes. "It's ok, you'll be alright." He soothed, carrying her with all his strength inside the house. "Gothi, uh, I mean elder, it's an emergancy!" He shouted, and the old woman came hurring out.
"Oh my... Put her on that bed there." She gestured to the nearby bed. Hiccup settled the shivering girl down. Catfish was as pale as the white sand beaches on Berk. He heard the door behind him, and Cat's younger sister, Emberlight, came rushing in. The smaller girl was panting heavily. It looked as if she had run all the way from the cove. "Is... she ok?" Ember panted heavily. "I think she'll be all right." Hiccup turned around to see that the elder was already busy at work.
"Oh, and Elder? Can a nightmare come in? She seemed concerned about Cat, though I have no idea why." Ember asked. "Yes, of course." She responded kindly. Ember opened the door, and the nose of a nightmare popped in. "Hello, Vail." Hiccup smiled at the dragon. The nightmare squeezed her head in, and reached her long neck over to sniff Cat.
She groaned worriedly, and cast her eyes downward. "It's all right, Vail." Ember assured her, and suddenly, Vail pulled her head out, and wandered off. "Ahem, anyway, may I speak to Cat alone? I think she's waking up." Hiccup asked. "Of course." Ember and Gothi said at the same time. Gothi took Ember's hand and led her outside.
"Hey, what happened? Oh yeah..." Cat said, remembering the events that had taken place that day. "Um, why were you out in the lake? I thought I had forbidden that." Hiccup said, a little sternly. Catfish looked up at him, and then sat up in bed, wrapping the furry blanket around her. She began telling him the Oakleaf had pushed her in the lake, and she couldn't stop her, because she had been so tired. "Why were you tired?" He asked sounding skeptical. Cat launched into the last night's events, about the dream, and what actually happened to her. "Look, Cat, I don't think you should let Gobber's stories get to you. They're just stories. Maybe you should get some rest." Hiccup said, running a hand through his dark brown hair.
"Sorry." She mumbled. "It's ok. I'll see you tomorrow Cat." He walked to the door, then paused, and turned around. "Oh, and please, no more lies about what other students did. You're better than that." Then he turned and walked out the door, slamming it behind him. Tears welled up in the poor girl's eyes. She hadn't lied! The person she thought would become like a brotherly figure to her, had just slammed the door in her face. Catfish had never felt so alone in her life before.
A/N: AWWW POOR CATFISH. I feel so bad for her! Almost freezing to death in a lake because of mean old Oak, getting fussed at by Hiccup, and no one is sticking up for her! :'^( At least Vail likes her. I wonder why... There's a reason for everything! I guess you'll have to read the next chapter to find out! Review plz! I love it when ya do! ^^
