Chapter 9 : Teach Me How To Fly
As the sun's disk touched the horizon, Hiccup took stock of how the day had gone. He'd scared the Zippleback with an eel - a nice trick that - and escaped the village to go try his crazy idea. Then he'd managed to ride a dragon, fall off said dragon, die, and be resurrected back in the raid where he shot down the dragon. He'd aced the raid - done everything right - and landed himself in dragon training. He snuck off, kissed and made up (a bit closer to kissing than he liked) with the offspring of lightning and death itself, snuck back, then done a bit better in his first round with the Nadder than last time.
So much better, in fact, that they had their second round on the first day.
The second round with the Nadder had gone quite well (on the whole, rather than for him specifically). The twins had managed to (safely) unfuse a three-way-fused weapon - with assistance from Fishlegs - which made up for Snotlout's screaming and failing to heat any weapons. Astrid managed an entire rack singlehandedly - again - and the rest of the kids were left to gape in awe as she got four heated weapons over to Gobber, alone. Before the rack fell apart, Hiccup grabbed one of its weapons (abandoning the cold one he had picked up) and got that heated one to the smith. Snotlout managed to waste one of the Nadder's shots while running away, and that left the dragon with no shots and a peg-legged Viking to contend with. Gobber made short work of putting the dragon away, and that was that.
Now Hiccup found himself headed to the forge, to avoid an awkward conversation with his dad. Also to work on the tailfin. At least, given how everything had happened so far, he assumed that conversation with the ax and the helmet would happen earlier because his dad was even more proud of him for helping successfully capture the Nightmare.
Hiccup really didn't want to deal with that.
Arriving at the forge, Hiccup set to work on the fin. He hoped he remembered everything correctly because this time he forgot to take any drawings to work from. He made five supporting rods, three long and two short. He put the short ones on the outer edges, the longs in the middle. A sheet of leather stretched over the five and attached along each length, with joints preventing the 'fin' from opening beyond a certain angle while also allowing it to fold shut.
Holding it up to the forge's dim light, Hiccup furled and unfurled it. It looked about the same as last time, though he might've done a bit better on the leatherwork. Dumping the fin in the same corner as last time, Hiccup turned to the shop window to look outside. At a glance, he could tell it was after dark, but his view of the sky was blocked by a vast, bear-fur cloaked figure.
"D- Dad! Hi. Dad. Hi, dad. I- I was just about to head home." Hiccup stammered, wiping off his hands on his apron.
"Hiccup. Missed you after dragon training, and at dinner." Stoick said.
"Oh, sorry, I came straight here after training." Hiccup babbled, "Wanted to work on this id- er- stuff. Y'know."
"Right, of course, I- erm." Stoick coughed, as if uncomfortable.
Mentally, Hiccup sighed. He was getting the awkward conversation anyway. Hopefully, this time, he could expedite it.
"So is there some particular reason…?" Hiccup trailed off, leaving the air open for his dad.
"Yes, I wanted to give you this." His dad pulled out an ax, same as before, dropping it into Hiccup's (less than capable) grip. The scrawny Viking said nothing, unsure whether faked gratitude would sound sincere. Stoick looked down at his boy, seemingly deep in thought, before starting and speaking again. "Oh, right, this as well," he said.
His father pulled out a helmet, with two curved white horns. He adjusted one of the horns in its socket then handed the helm to his son. As Hiccup reached for it, the ax he'd previously barely supported with both hands dropped to the floor. Carefully, Hiccup took the proffered helm by the horns, knowing what his father would say next.
"It's half your mother's breastplate." His father tapped his own helm, which was sitting atop his head. "Matching set. Keeps her close."
Hiccup remained silent as the scene repeated itself, at least until his father's comment about "all of… This."
"Dad, you just gestured to all of me." The boy complained. His father's face was unreadable as he stood at his full height, looking down. Hiccup couldn't stand a minute of silence like last time, so he interrupted the moment before it got going, "Okay, I'll train hard, you'll come back from the nest hunt, it'll all be great. For now, I'm off to bed."
"Wait, nest hunt?" His father stopped Hiccup as the boy attempted to escape the conversation, "Who told you I was going on a nest hunt?"
"The other kids in dragon training?" Hiccup said, voice rising into a question as his father's face took on a look of confusion.
After a moment, his father defused the situation with a chuckle. "Must have been joking with you then. After the feast, the other villagers shot my nest hunt idea down. They're all too worried about the approaching freeze."
Hiccup stammered out some response and jogged off into the night. His mind was in a whirlwind, trying to keep up with all the changes.
Doing so well in the raid that his dad launched a feast had caused the village to reject the nest hunt. So his dad was still here. Because his dad was here, taking care of Toothless would be quite a bit harder.
The next few days - until he more-than-likely died again - were going to be very fun.
-EoT-
Hiccup woke to sunlight streaming in through his window. It hardly even merited mentioning, but, he was late - again. Rising from his bed, Hiccup glanced out the window and saw that almost a full sun's disc could fit between the sun and the horizon; he was very late.
Given that only one round of Nadder training remained after yesterday (and the other teens were doing better, somehow? Were they jealous of Hiccup's recognition in the raid?) Hiccup figured that - maybe - he could sneak off to the cove.
Not bothering to change out of yesterday's clothes, Hiccup ran downstairs and out the front door. His father wasn't home - the hearth cold - and he was glad to avoid any more conversations like last night's.
Jogging down to the forge, Hiccup found it thankfully devoid of life. He fetched the tailfin and ran back out, moving to sprint to the grassy alley by the storehouse.
Once he entered the dark storehouse (leaving the tailfin outside in the grass) he stopped to take a breath. He'd have to come up with an excuse for his absence later (for Gobber and Stoick) but for now, he was pretty much undetected, unless someone caught him between the warehouse and the forest.
Hiccup glanced around the dark interior, looking for the basket they'd made oblong in past days' play. It was only after a few seconds of searching that he remembered that he'd died, and the event that bent the basket hadn't (and probably wouldn't) occur.
He retrieved a normal basket, filling it off the tops of the various fish piles (excluding the eel pile, of course.) Once he had it filled, he grabbed a rope from the piles of netting toward the front of the storehouse and used it to tie the basket shut. He didn't have any real reason to tie the basket shut because of its latch, but it was an easier way to transport the rope for his new tailfin-fixing idea. Following the basket out the hole in the wall, Hiccup made his way toward the treeline-
-and ran right into his father, coming down from the great hall. "Hiccup! What's all this?" Stoick bellowed.
Hiccup winced at being caught, but his mind immediately began to create excuses. He was over two dozen paces from the grassy alley - so nothing incriminating there. "Da-Dad! Hello, there, dad. Uhh… I'm working on…"
What could he say? His dad wouldn't accept the 'secret project' explanation he gave to Gobber when he was discovered last time around. Perhaps if he could distract his father with something of note he did this attempt. . .
Struggling to make his mouth form coherent noise, Hiccup continued, "I- er... It- it's a new idea I had to counter Monstrous Nightmares! I- I'm going out to this dirt patch I found in the forest to test. . . er. . . its fireproofing!" As he babbled, he continued walking quickly past his father and toward the treeline. "Tell Gobber I'm sorry about missing dragon training this morning, but that it'll totally be worth it!" He shouted back, as he broke into a run for the treeline.
As the town disappeared behind the first trunk, he heard his father's bellowed indignation, "Tell him you missed what?!" Thankfully, Hiccup was long gone at that point.
-EoT-
Hiccup reached the cove without (further) incident. As quickly as he safely could (holding the tailfin and carrying the basket) he descended into the space, eyes searching around for his friendly Night Fury. Feeling the ground tremble as something large landed behind him, he turned to find Toothless sniffing cautiously at the basket.
"Hey bud,"
The dragon's ear flaps perked up at the sound of Hiccup's voice, and their owner sat back on his haunches, giving Hiccup a wide-eyed cute face.
"Okay, okay. Here you go." Hiccup chuckled as he swung the basket to the ground and untied the rope holding it shut. Eagerly, the dragon knocked over the basket, pawed all the fish out of the basket, and then dove face first into the pile of fish. Hiccup, meanwhile, took the rope and the tailfin a little way away, where he could work on the two.
Now was the time to put his new plan into action. He couldn't exactly ride on Toothless' tail, so he needed to be able to control the tailfin from further away. The solution? A rope! He could pull the tailfin open with the rope, and let it shut by giving the rope slack. It was perfect!
So, while Toothless enjoyed a fish buffet, Hiccup tied the rope around the tailfin's leading support strut. Sitting back to inspect his work, Hiccup was interrupted by a snout poking him in the side.
"Oh, hey. Yep, another try at a tailfin."
Toothless chuffed in a manner that sounded happy and spun around to set his tail next to the tailfin on the ground. Looking back at Hiccup, he gave a squawk that seemed to say, what are you waiting for?
Working quickly, Hiccup attached the tailfin to Toothless' tail. Then he took the rope in hand and walked up to Toothless' head.
Then he realized the flaw in his plan; He'd have to be riding the dragon to control the fin...
He should have thought this out more beforehand.
His mind flew with ideas, looking for a way to not ride the fire-breathing reptile. Maybe he could attach the rope to Toothless' leg so that Toothless could pull the fin open? How would he explain that to the dragon?
Meanwhile, said dragon was completely confused by Hiccup's reluctance. Crooning questioningly, Toothless poked Hiccup with his snout. Then, growing bored, nosed harder. Hiccup was too lost in thought to notice the dragon's impatience…
… Until his feet left the ground entirely. "TOOTHLESS!"
Toothless had shoved his head between Hiccup's legs, sending the teen sprawling onto the dragon's back. Before Hiccup could shove himself off and return to solid ground, Toothless jumped into the air, flapping hard to gain altitude. Reflexively, Hiccup grabbed the dragon's neck with his legs and scrabbled for purchase on the dragon's torso with his arms.
It was only as they started to bank hard toward the left - and the ground - that Hiccup remembered why he was holding a rope. Looking up (and down the length of Toothless' back) from his precarious situation, Hiccup saw the prosthetic flapping uselessly in the wind. Pulling sharply, he used the rope to open the prosthetic such that it matched the other tailfin.
The bank corrected, the ground receded, and the two of them swooped out of the cove. "Yes! We did it!" Hiccup shouted. Beneath him, Toothless barked out a laugh. Hiccup watched in awe as Toothless' tail flicked to the left and they began a more sedate left-hand turn. This awe quickly turned to concern as, with the tail contracting on the left side, the rope went slack and the prosthetic flapped shut.
Had Hiccup not been holding on to a fire-breathing reptile for dear life, he would have slapped himself. The length of the tail changed when it curved around, and whatever rope or gear system he connected to the prosthetic had to change with it, or control over the prosthetic would be lost.
These thoughts flitted through his mind for only a few moments before the sedate turn plummeted into another uncontrolled bank. Toothless cried out, head whipping around to try to see Hiccup and the prosthetic. Hiccup hauled in the length of rope, trying to get rid of all the slack. He succeeded - which slowed their fall - but now the tension in the rope held Toothless' tail in a left-turn position. In a flatspin, the two tumbled from the sky and met with the earth in an open field.
Hiccup was thrown from Toothless' back, the tailfin going slack as he released the rope. Seeing the ground coming up at him sideways, Hiccup tried to brace for landing…
-EoT-
