Chapter 8: What Once Was Mine
"Rapunzel, I hope you don't mind, but before we talk, I'd really like to change into a set of different clothes for when I go to bed later tonight." Hiccup said.
"Of course, and I promise that I'll make sure not to wake up Toothless while I wait here on this bed for you to change and come back." Rapunzel replied.
Hiccup gave a smile before he grabbed his clothes from the bed, from which he had laid them down on, and walked over to the bathroom, and once he was inside, Hiccup closed the door behind him. While Hiccup was changing in the bathroom, Rapunzel kept herself occupied by quietly watching Toothless, and she soon became simply fascinated with the deep and heavy cat-like sound he was making. Less than five minutes have passed before Hiccup eventually came out of the bathroom, which captured Rapunzel's attention with the sound of the door opening, as she instantly turned her head to see him.
Hiccup was barefoot while wearing a long white shirt and pants that were also the colour of white, and he made his way over to the bed, trying to be as silent as he could, but that was actually impossible with the prosthetic foot squeaking with every step he took. Rapunzel couldn't help but let out a few giggles from hearing the squeaks from the prosthetic, since she thought it sounded a little funny, but she instantly soon felt bad about doing so, because the prosthetic was the exact thing that she wanted Hiccup to tell her about. Hiccup sat down on the bed and took a deep breath for himself and a short glance before turning around to face Rapunzel and start having a conversation with her.
"Do you remember when I told you and your parents about the time when me and Toothless were fighting against the giant dragon known as the Red Death?" Hiccup asked.
"Yes, I remember and it was an amazing story to hear, and why do you ask? Was there anything else that you forgot to tell while you were talking about that part of the story?" Rapunzel replied.
"No, I didn't forget. It's just that I decided not to include a certain moment, and it happened after we managed to defeat the Red Death, but since you want to know of what happened to my leg, I'd like to tell you about the events leading up to it first, but only if you don't mind at least." Hiccup responded.
"I don't mind, Hiccup. Please, I'd like to hear everything." Rapunzel said right before she just stayed silent, while having her legs crossed, and nodding again, and she kept Hiccup continue on with what he was talking about to her.
"Even though I tried to steer Toothless away, the prosthetic tail that I made for him had caught on fire from the Red Death unleashing a long stream from its' mouth, and the brief sound told me all I needed to know: we didn't have much time left! An idea had stuck me. Maybe I could trick the Red Death into crashing into the ground, and I would still need a way to make sure it died, however. We had managed to get the Red Death's attention before making the fastest dive we had ever performed and cleared the ash cloud and saw the ground approaching fast, but not fast enough.
Even worse, the Red Death was gaining once more, and the smoldering holes in its wings were having no effect on its descent, and so I raced once again for an idea, and I came up with something. While the Red Death may have been fireproof on the outside, it couldn't be on the inside too, and just when the the Red Death had closed in on us, with the loud hiss of gas building up to blast us from its' mouth, I yelled out "Now" to Toothless. That's when he instantly flipped around in midair, so we were flying backwards, facing the Red Death's open mouth.
With his last shot, Toothless launched a blue fireball right in the massive ball of green gas that was forming in the Red Death's mouth, and it had the desired effect with starting to ignite and cook the insides of the big dragon's insides. The Red Death's eight eyes widened as the gas inside it ignited, creating a large, deadly fireball in its throat, and the Red Death's throat caught on fire and slowly began to started to explode from the inside out! It spread its wings out and tried to slow down its fall, but to no avail, with but its wings were tearing, and several holes had ripped through the membrane.
We were suddenly being dragged back almost right into the monster's jaws, but luckily, Toothless barely managed to avoid it and all of the hot air blew us higher up into the air! The Red Death hit the beach headfirst, creating a massive explosion that rocked the entire island, with fire beginning to consume it. Toothless flapped both sets of wings furiously, while all I could do was hang on and steer him through the spikes as the flames kept getting closer and closer!
The material on Toothless' artificial fin finally succumbed to the fire, and my heart skipped a beat as the cloth was torn off, leaving behind only the metal frame. However, we still had enough momentum going to get us clear and, with care, glide to the ground, but however, I didn't anticipate the Red's Death massive clubbed tail headed straight for us. I tried to swerve us out of the way, praying that it would just pass over, but it was too late as the large and bulbous tail impacted heavily on our left side, throwing me off of the saddle. Everything went dark after that, but not before I felt something wrap around my entire body, but I didn't know what it was at the time because I had already been knocked out by the club on the dragon's tail." Hiccup finished, and took a long breath after talking for so long.
"So I guess that it must have been Toothless who had protected you from the fire by using his wings to cover you up." Rapunzel said, assuming that's what happened.
"Yes, and every day, I'm so grateful to know that he was willing to sacrifice his own life to save mine, because if it wasn't for him doing that, I probably wouldn't be here right now." Hiccup replied, while turning to give a smile at his sleeping scaly friend.
"Hiccup, you're very lucky to have Toothless as a best friend, but what I still don't understand is how part of your left leg had managed to get so badly injured. Do you know what happened?" Rapunzel wondered.
"Rapunzel, to be honest, I'm still not sure what happened to my leg. My dad hasn't told me and I haven't asked him. There's a certain amount of things that could have happened between the time the Red Death's tail knocked us out of the sky and the time my dad found us crumpled on the ground, and I'd rather not speculate. If Toothless had anything, anything at all to do with it, he did it because there wasn't any other way." Hiccup explained.
"Don't worry, Hiccup. I completely understand that. So exactly how long were you unconscious, and during that time, were you able to feel any pain when they got rid of the injured part of your leg and attached a prosthetic?" Rapunzel asked, while she was surprised with herself for even asking such questions.
"I might have been knocked out for about a month or maybe even less than that, and yes, the pain I felt from the operation, was quite unbearable for me to handle. As soon as I started walking on the prosthetic, I knew that it was going to take a while for me to get used to it.
No matter what, Toothless was always there for me whenever I had any sort of trouble, and especially when I'm sleeping the prosthetic would suddenly cause so much pain which would leave me in sweat and screaming in the middle of the night.
I also remember having nightmares of the battle with the Red Death on most nights with each and every one of them starting from the moment that me and Toothless were leading the Red Death into the ground, but after I woke up, Toothless would make sure to help me feel better." Hiccup answered.
"Hiccup, you should know that I used to have many nightmares that would cause for me to be either crying or screaming." Rapunzel mentioned, and what she just said had captured the Viking's interests.
"Really, and do you still remember what your nightmares were about. I mean, if they made you scream and cry, did any of them include thunder and lightning or any scary monsters?" Hiccup asked, and then he felt quite stupid for saying those things, because he didn't want to have Rapunzel scared.
"No, they were usually about my hair, and even though you're probably not going to believe this, but I didn't really grow up with my hair always being short and brown. As long as you don't mind, I'd like to explain how it was different." Rapunzel requested, to which Hiccup responded by giving a simple nod.
"A very long time ago, a drop of sunlight fell to the ground and grew into a magical golden flower with healing abilities. One day, an elderly woman named Gothel found the flower and discovered its' powers when she sang to it. She was determined to keep this secret from the rest of the world and hid the flower to keep herself beautiful and young forever, as hundreds of years passed, and in that time a nearby kingdom prospered. Sadly, the young Queen fell deathly ill while pregnant, and soon the entire kingdom searched for a cure, but eventually a few guards had managed to find the flower and Gothel was powerless to stop them.
After drinking a broth made from the flower, the Queen was cured and the flower's abilities were given to her unborn child, which resided in her unusually long golden hair, and to celebrate the birth, the King and Queen released a floating lantern into the sky. In the middle of nighttime, Gothel carefully broke into the royal couple's room and sneaked to the baby's crib. When she tried to cut a lock of the baby's hair, Gothel saw that the hair turned brown and lost its power. Gothel decided to kidnap the infant instead and the King and Queen were awakened by their baby, but it was too late, and for many months, the people of the kingdom searched and searched, but they could never find their princess.
Gothel had isolated the baby in a hidden tower far away from the rest of the world, and raised her as her own daughter, while refusing to let the girl go outside, telling her the world was a dangerous place where people would try to hurt her and use her gift for themselves. Every year on the girl's birthday for the next eighteen years, her parents and the people of the kingdom released thousands of lanterns into the sky, in the hope that the lost princess would return one day, and luckily she did." Rapunzel finished.
"So in order for Gothel to receive the magic from your hair at anytime, what needed to happen?" Hiccup asked, while he was still in amazement that Rapunzel used to have long, blonde hair which was magical.
"The person must have themselves in physical contact with the hair in order for the magic to work when someone sings the song, and the hair also emitted a glowing light when the magic worked, and the song goes like this," Rapunzel said before singing the healing incantation.
Flower gleam and glow
Let your power shine
Make the clock reverse
Bring back what once was mine
Heal what has been hurt
Change the fate's design
Save what has been lost
Bring back what once was mine
What once was mine
Hiccup was left absolutely stunned in amazement from hearing Rapunzel's voice for a while, and then he soon snapped out of it when Rapunzel kept calling his name for a few times.
"Are you okay, Hiccup? It looked like you just didn't seem yourself for a moment there. Could it have been my singing, because I'm usually great at it. Pascal and my parents always look happy when they hear my voice." Rapunzel assumed.
"Yes, Rapunzel, I'm just great, and you really do have a wonderful voice. That's why I wasn't so focused for you to have my attention. I'm sorry for making you think otherwise." Hiccup replied.
"Thank you, Hiccup, and it's good to know that because now I can officially add you to the incredibly long list of people in Corona who enjoy hearing me sing, and if you want, whenever you're not in a good mood, I could sing to make you feel better, at least, if you think that it would help." Rapunzel suggested.
"I'm sure that it would, but I really don't think that it's necessary right now, but wait, do you actually have that kind of list? Did it take a long time for you to make it?" Hiccup asked.
"Sorry to disappoint you, but that part I said about the list was all just a joke. Even though I'm the princess of the kingdom, I'm sure that everyone would like my singing even if I wasn't a part of royalty." Rapunzel answered.
"How did you finally get yourself to not only leave that tower in the woods but also escape that woman who kidnapped you from your parents? Did you have anybody help you out?" Hiccup asked.
"While I did get plenty of encouragement from Pascal over the years, it wasn't until in one day before my birthday came, when a famous thief known as Flynn Rider had chosen to sneak into the tower to hide because he had stolen my crown from this castle. He had kept the crown in a satchel, and after I knocked him out with a frying pan, I was able to hide it under the staircase to my room, and have him tied up in a chair with my hair being tangled all around him. After talking for a while, we had managed to make a deal with each other, which was for Flynn to take me to see the lanterns and safely return me back to the tower, and only then I would give his satchel back to him." Rapunzel explained.
"Rapunzel, do you know whatever happened to Flynn? Did he keep your crown and run away or did he get sent back here to serve his punishment?" Hiccup asked, wanting to know much more about what's happened in Rapunzel's life.
"I would love to stay and tell you, but I think that it's time for me to go back to my room and get some much needed sleep, and I'm sure that you should too." Rapunzel mentioned.
"Yes, you're right, and Rapunzel, I just have to say that it was very nice for us to stay up and talk with each other, so thank you very much." Hiccup replied, while showing another one of his lopsided grins.
"Your welcome, and I'm so glad that we'll get to have a lot more conversations like this while you and Toothless are staying here with us. Goodnight." Rapunzel said, giving the Viking a quick hug before she walked over and closed the door behind her.
Hiccup took off his prosthetic and left it near the bed before getting into the sheets, and he eventually had gone to sleep, while having all of the things that Rapunzel told him in his mind.
