Did you miss me? Of course you did! I got the next chapter for you all, so I hope you enjoy it well.

Ch. 6
Trying To Fly

"…And with one twist, he took my hand and swallowed it whole! And I saw the look on his face; I was delicious! He must've passed the word because it wasn't a month before another one of them took my leg!"

"Great story, Gobber," I said, smirking. "Not like I haven't heard it fifty times before already."

Gobber chuckled as he nudged my arm playfully. I smiled at him before looking down at my fish that was currently hovering over the fire.

"Isn't it weird to think that your hand was inside a dragon," said Fishlegs. "Like, if your mind was still in control of it, you could've killed the dragon by crushing its heart or something."

Okay… creepy…

"I swear I'm so angry right now!" growled Snotlout. "I'll avenge your beautiful hand and your beautiful foot. I'll chop off the legs of every dragon I fight- with my face!"

I rolled my eyes. Yeah. Ugly face like that, and your own mother doesn't even love it? You'll scare the poor things to death!

"Uh-uh. It's the wings and the tails yah really want," Gobber said, and he looked at us all. "If it can't fly, it can't get away. A downed dragon, is a dead dragon."

In that moment all realization seemed to truly wash over me. With a ruined tail, Toothless won't be able to fly ever again. He'll be trapped in that cove forever, with no way to get out. But, no… that can't happen. Toothless is a sweet dragon, he doesn't deserve that. And it's my fault that he's like that to begin with. I gotta help him…

"Alright, I'm off to bed. You should be, too," said Gobber. "Tomorrow we get to the big boys. Slowly, but surly, making our way up to the Monstrous Nightmare. But who will win the honor of killing it?"

At this point I'd had enough. Making sure that no one was watching me, I set my fish down and quickly got up to leave. I walked backwards a little bit and made my way down the stairs. I thought I saw Austen glance at me for a moment, but it was probably just my imagination.

Soon enough I had arrived at the forge. Even though I knew Gobber wouldn't be in tonight, I locked the door just to be safe. I walked over to my desk and pushed several drawings away. I took out my sketchbook, opened it to the picture of Toothless, and grabbed my pencil. Then I pressed it to the image and added a tailfin where the missing one should be.

I knew what I had to do.

Week one. Fin prototype. Test 1.

After writing this down I stuck my book back into my vest and picked said prototype up into my arms. I continued into the cove until I spotted the sleeping form of Toothless, curled up near the small waterfall. I smiled, feeling a little excited. I hope he likes it!

"Hey Toothless…" I sang sweetly.

At my voice Toothless opened his eyes. I smiled even more as he slowly lifted his head, yawning loudly as he stretched his limbs out.

'M-morning, Hicca,' he strained, shaking his head a little to force some of his drowsiness away. 'You're a little early today. I didn't think you'd be back until noon.'

"Change of plan," I said, setting the prosthetic on the ground gently. "I got other stuff to do later today, so I decided to come early. I brought you something."

'What?'

"Breakfast!" I said cheerfully, roughly placing the basket on the ground. "I hope you're hungry."

'Starving, actually.'

I nodded as I placed my foot against the basket and gave it a hard shove. The whole thing fell to the ground, spilling the fish into a giant slimy heap.

"Okay, that's disgusting," I said shortly.

'Not to me,' said Toothless, and he sniffed the pile. 'Wow, that's a lot of fish.'

"Yep. Got a whole lot for yah," I said as I picked the new fin back up. "Some salmon, little Icelandic cod, and a whole smoked eel-"

'WHAT?!'

I jumped and turned to see Toothless growling at the pile of fish, his eyes now glaring slits. I bent over, searched around a bit and picked up the huge eel. At once Toothless reared back and gave a loud, angry hiss.

'BE GONE WITH YOU!' he yelled at the thing.

"No, no, no! It's okay!" I hurriedly tossed the eel away. "What's wrong?"

When the eel was gone Toothless stopped hissing and finally calmed down.

'I forgot to tell you,' he said, sounding a little breathless. 'Dragons are severely allergic to eels. It makes us sick and we end up hallucinating for over week.'

"I'm so sorry!" I said timidly. "I didn't mean to…"

'It's okay, you didn't know. I don't blame you,' he nudged my leg gently. 'Not harm, no foul. Right?'

I smiled, then nodded. After a moment I chuckled a little.

'What?'

"Nothing," I said. "It's just… I don't like eel much either."

Toothless gave a soft chuckle before turning around and diving into the pile of fish. I nodded. Just what I need…

"That's it, stick to the good stuff," I mumbled as I slowly circled around him. "Don't you mind me… I'll just be back here… minding my own business…"

Toothless either didn't hear me or didn't care what I was doing, because he continued to devour the fish. I turned and looked down at his tail. I kneeled down and placed the fin next to his tail. I started to gently push them together but his tail moved away. I blinked, then tried again, but the tail moved. Can't he stay still?

'I will if you leave my tail alone.'

I froze, not moving an inch as my eyes glanced up at Toothless. He can read minds now?!

'Why yes. Yes I can.'

I stared at him. Things just keep getting weirder and weirder… I shook my head, trying to focus. I tried the bring the fin to his tail but this time it started to thrash around a bit.

"No, it's okay," I assured him.

Then I reached up and grabbed his tail. I grunted as I used all the force I had to keep it still. I grabbed the fin and started to put them together, but…

'No more fish?'

Sticking his head in the basket, Toothless took a giant step forward, causing me to fall and slide hard on my stomach.

"Bah! Okay, that's it…!"

Without thinking I swung my leg over so I was now straddling Toothless' tail. It was enough to keep him still so I quickly pulled over the fin and started to put it on. As I pushed the strap through the buckle I felt Toothless start to shift a little.

'What on earth are you doing?' he asked me.

"Just give me a second."

A moment of silence. Then…

'No way…'

But I ignored him. I made sure the strap was on good and tight before sitting back, examining my work. I pulled out the tailfin to see how it looked. Overall, it seemed okay.

"Not too bad," I said, folding my arms. "I suppose it works. Might need a few adjustments, but-"

Suddenly there was a large gust of wind as I was lifted into the air. I screamed and flailed my arms, grabbing onto Toothless' tail. What the hell is he doing?!

'I'm flying!'

Oh… shit…

"No, no, no-! Toothless, wait-!"

I lifted my head up and opened my eyes to look at his tail, and frowned. The new tailfin was closing and shifting from the powerful wind. Within seconds the air started to ease up, and we slowly down, coming closer and closer towards the ground. No! Keeping a tight grip on Toothless' tail, I reached my hand out, grabbed the fin and yanked it open. At once we were lifted into the air, going higher and higher until we were above the cove.

"Oh my- It's working!"

I lifted the fin up and we did a sharp turn. After looping around we dove back into the cove and glided over the sparkling water. The wind was pushing my bangs into my eyes and my braid was whipping my face, but I didn't care.

"Yes! I did it!"

I probably shouldn't have said that…

'Hicca!' I heard Toothless shout. 'What are you doing up here? You'll hurt yourself!'

With that, he flung me off his tail. I yelled as I skidded across the water before finally sinking in. I pushed myself up and my face broke the surface just as an even louder splash sounded somewhere away from me. Toothless must have fallen as well. Despite me being thrown into a pond, I've never felt more happy. In fact, I was so happy that I smiled widely and threw my hands in the air, yelling in triumph.

"YEAH!"

'Hicca, are you alright?' I heard Toothless call out.

"Fine? I'm great!" I turned and started talking excitingly to myself. "This is amazing, it actually worked! …Kinda. I mean, I need to figure out how to keep it open, but that's all! Just a few more adjustments and it should be perfect. Then he'll finally be able- oof!"

I grunted as I felt something nudge my back and start pushing me through the water. I turned my head and was shocked to see Toothless. He was swimming through he water, continuously pushing me along with him.

'C'mon, you,' he said, smiling slightly. 'Get out before you drown yourself.'

"Hey, I can swim just fine on my own," I retorted, but I didn't resist.

Toothless continued to lead me out of the water until I was finally able to stand on my own. I walked onto the shore, my feet making loud slopping noises due to the excess of water. I sat down in the grass and pulled my booths off, emptying the water out of both of them. Toothless walked up next to me and started shaking his head, flecks of water flying everywhere. I laughed as I covered my face.

'What was that?' he asked once he had stopped.

"That, my friend, was your new tail," I said as I took out my braid and squeezed the water out of it. "I made it for you last night, and I wanted to try it out. Pretty great, huh?"

I pushed my wet bangs away from my eyes and looked up at Toothless. He was staring at me, his large eyes wide.

'You made that for me?' he breathed.

I smiled as I lowered my head. "Yeah," I said, suddenly feeling very shy. "I mean… It's my fault that you can't fly anymore, so I should be the one to help you fly again."

I glanced up at Toothless and saw he hand an amazed look on his face. Then his eyes widened as he turned his head and lifted his tail up. The new fin looked completely busted.

'It's ruined,' Toothless said in despair. 'I broke it, after all the work you did. I'm sorry…'

"Don't be! It was just a prototype," I told him quickly. "I didn't really expect it to work permanently anyway. I promise, once I get it back home I'll handle whatever needs to be fixed and make it perfect. You'll be back in the air in no time. I promise!"

Two seconds of silence along with Toothless sitting there staring at me in amazement followed my statement. A second later he pounced on me and pinned me to the ground, his large paw on my chest. For a split second I thought he was attacking me, but when I looked up, I saw the biggest, gummiest smile on his face.

'Thank you so much, Hicca!'

And with that, he started licking my face. It was basically like getting licked by a giant dog with fish breath. I didn't mind at first so much, but after a while it actually started to tickle. I started laughing and put my hands up to stop him, but of course, nothing worked.

"Ha ha ha! T-Toothless, stop! Ha ha, please- it t-tickles!"

After one last lick to my cheek Toothless finally lifted his face away, but he kept his paw on my chest. I finally calmed down and sat up the best I could and wiped the slobber away from my mouth.

"Dude, you're nasty!" I laughed, looking up at him.

'I can't help it,' Toothless laughed. 'I'm just happy, and it's fun to make you laugh!'

He finally got off me and sat back on his hind legs, still smiling. I sat up and scrapped the rest of the slobber off of me, wiping it on my pants.

"You're welcome, by the way," I added, smiling.

Toothless looked down at the ground, stirring his paw in the dirt, a shy smile on his face. He's not embarrassed now, is he? I leaned forward and reached my hand out to pet him. He looked up at me and brought his face up to meet my hand. I patted him gently before lifting my other hand up and stroking his snout smoothly, and he started to purr.

She's amazing, I thought as I closed my eyes.

It wasn't just my opinion, it was a solid fact. Even though I had only known Hicca for a little over a week I felt like I really knew her. She was kind, thoughtful, and just so generous. She was a better person than any other human I had ever seen. And as she continued to pet around my nose I discovered another thing; she looked and smelled cleaner than any of the other Vikings. Usually those people smelled like mud, sweat and sometimes blood(to my disgust, dragon blood). But Hicca was the complete opposite. There was something strong in her sent, something like hot coals and melted metal. But at the same time there was something soft and sweet that I couldn't explain.; like fresh spring air, and I liked it. And the fact that her hands were so soft and warm only made it better.

I opened my eyes to see Hicca was looking up at the sky, still keeping her hands on my snout. She appeared to be looking for something.

"What time do you suppose it is?" she asked, not looking at me.

I thought for a moment before saying, 'Probably almost noon. Why?'

Suddenly Hicca let out a loud gasp, taking her hands away from me.

"I forgot!"

She started running around and began to gather all of her stuff. She took the fin off of my tail and placed it carefully in the giant fish basket. Then she grabbed the eel and stuffed it in her vest.

'What's wrong?' I asked as she lifted the basket onto her back.

"I need to get home," she said. "I have a, um… Viking class! Yeah, just that!"

But the fact that she had hesitated made me think that she was not being completely honest with me. But whatever it is, I can wait to ask. I'm sure she has her reasons for what she does.

'When will you come back?' I asked her.

"Soon," she answered, walking up to me. "I don't know when, but I'll come back as soon as I can."

She smiled as she petted my nose again. I closed my eyes as I let out a loud purr. Then her hand slide off my face and she started to walk away.

"Bye, Toothless."

'Bye, Hicca."

And there's chapter 6. I hope you liked it because i did. I'm having so much fun writing this and I hope you're having fun reading it. I'll have the next one up soon. Bye.