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NOTE: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING
Chapter 9: We Fly Together, As One
The next day, Hiccup and Zenna arrive earlier than usual. According to them, training had let out early so that meant we could have more time to fly together. After a few more practices tethered to the ground for Toothless, we are ready to go.
"Are you ready to touch the skies, Stryka?" Zenna asks me gamely, smiling widely, as she puts the saddle on my back. I wiggle my rump in excitement. "You know it, Zen!" I croon while Hiccup gets on Toothless' back and attaches this piece of parchment to the saddle. Upon closer inspection, I see that it has several positions for Toothless to use once the tail fin has been opened. I then hear Zenna say to Hiccup, "Hicc, having that is just gonna distract you." While Hiccup says, "It's not going to distract me, Zen." I am confused and look at Toothless. "He calls it a 'cheat sheet'…Something tells me he's not confident enough to trust his flying instincts…" he sighs. "Technically, humans don't have flying instincts," I remind him before we both take off and leave the Cove.
It is a glorious day for flying. The wind is blowing at the perfect speed and feeling Zenna's thrill makes me thrilled as well. Hiccup and Toothless are right in front of us. "Alright, bud, we're gonna take this nice and slow," Hiccup tells Toothless, who nods. He then glances down at his cheat sheet to pick out a position and Zenna sighs. "Lose the chest sheet. Just let flying come to you naturally," she tells him but Hiccup ignores her. I expect Zenna to be frustrated but, judging by the way she shrugs her shoulders, I can tell that she has already gotten accustomed to Hiccup's stubbornness.
Finally Hiccup picks out a position and clicks on the stirrup. The tail fin opens and I hear Toothless say, "Let's do this, Hiccup." And they fly perfectly, making a graceful turn. "Good work!" Zenna calls out to them both. "You're doing great, Toothless! Keep it up!" I chirp encouragingly to my dearly beloved mate. Pleased to see that the tail fin is working fine, Hiccup decides to get things moving. "Alright, it's go time…" he mumbles and he and Toothless glide alongside us. Toothless and I skim the water with our wings and the sea breeze makes us feel refreshed and just so alive! Toothless and I, for the first time in what seemed like forever, feel free. No raids to go on and no threats to become the next meal from the Queen…it is just wonderful.
"Come on, buddy! Come on, buddy!" "That's it, Stryka! You can do it, girl!" Hiccup and Zenna cheer us on as we fly under a stone arch, the gulls crying overhead. "Yes, it worked!" Hiccup grins before he and Toothless start bumping into sea stacks! I wince a bit every time my mate hits one. "Sorry!" Hiccup apologizes after the first bump and says, "That was my fault!" when they bump into a sea stack the second time. 'Klutz…' I think, rolling my eyes while Toothless says, "Watch where you're going, man!" and slaps him with his right ear flap. "Be careful!" Zenna whines as she and I fly alongside our boys.
Hiccup sighs, frustrated. "Yeah, yeah, I got it! Position three…no, four…" he mutters, picks out a position, clicks on the stirrup again, and he and Toothless soar upwards. "Now that's what I've been waiting for," Zenna grins and we join them up higher into the air.
"Yeah!" Toothless roars as we soar up higher into the clouds. "Yeah! Go baby!" Hiccup whoops in exhilaration. "Alright! Now that's what I'm talking about!" Zenna cheers while I exclaim, "I am enjoying this! Yahoo!" as we go higher and higher.
"Oh, this is amazing! The wind in my…" Hiccup manages to say before a breeze suddenly detaches the cheat sheet from the saddle! 'Uh-oh…' I think as Hiccup yells, "Cheat Sheet! STOP!" which catches Zenna's attention. We both see our boys up a few feet above us. Toothless stops his ascent, the safety line connecting Hiccup to him detaches…and then they start to fall out of the sky!
"Oh noooooooooooooooo!" Toothless roars in a panic while Hiccup hollers, "Oh Gods! Oh Gods, no!" as they plummet back down to earth! "NO!" I shriek in alarm and frantically go into a power dive while Zenna screams, "No, no, no, no, no, Hiccup! Toothless!" and we fly down after them.
My mate is roaring in a panic and frantically flapping his wings and flailing his legs and tails while trying to follow Hiccup's increasingly frantic commands. I roar as well, fearing for their lives, as Zenna yells, "Come on, Hiccup, you can do it! Hang in there, Toothless!"
When a rock pillar zooms by, my stomach twists itself into knots upon realizing that all four of us were getting closer to hitting the ground! If Toothless didn't get Hiccup back on the saddle in time, they are going to be smushed! Finally, after an agonizingly long second, Hiccup manages to air swim his way over to Toothless and strap himself back in!
"Pull up! And, Hiccup, don't think, just do! Just fly, Hiccup! Just fly!" Zenna screams once the treetops come into view. The cheat sheet flutters by and Hiccup grabs it with his mouth but he doesn't use it. Instead, he quickly has Toothless pull up. Zenna and I pull up as well, the treetops barely missing my scales by inches, and the four of us fly into a foggy part of the sea littered with sea stacks.
'Don't think, just do,' I suddenly hear Zenna's thoughts in my head. I am startled that I can hear her thoughts but, then, I focus on the sea stacks. 'Alright, Zenna…let's do this!' I think and we fly. Making snap decisions and whatnot, the two of us and Hiccup and Toothless soar through the deadly maze. No commands are given, and it's as if Zenna and I have become one being soaring through the air.
It feels…amazing.
Finally, all four of us make it out of the maze. "YEEAAAHH!" Hiccup yells out, victoriously throwing his hands up in the air. "WOOO-HOOO!" Zenna hollers, pumping her fists in the air. Toothless and I look at each other and smile before letting out plasma blasts to celebrate…forgetting that humans aren't partially fireproof like dragons.
"Come on!"
"Oh man!"
'Whoops…sorry, you two!' Toothless and I think as our two Riders frantically extinguish the flames. We decide to land on a rocky islet so we can rest. Hiccup looks like scrawny lion with his singed mane and it makes Zenna laugh. Then Hiccup licks his thumb and forefinger, then, puts out a small lick of flame Zenna forgot to extinguish in her hair. "Thanks…" my youngling says sheepishly before she whacks Hiccup on the back with her battle sticks. "What was that for?" Hiccup winces at her. "For bringing a cheat sheet and not trusting your instincts," she tells him off.
Toothless and I decide to go fish for dinner while Hiccup and Zenna walk around the islet. By the time they have returned from exploring, we have already caught a large quantity of fish. "Looks like it's dinnertime," Zenna chirps and she and Hiccup make a fire pit. Toothless and I light it with our plasma blasts and, with our humans cooking their fish, we set down to eat.
The sun is setting, turning the sky into a dazzling display of pink, orange and yellow. I am particularly looking forward to twilight when the sky begins to turn violet, just like Zenna's eyes. Hiccup and Zenna are slowly eating their cooked fish so Toothless and I decide to cough up some of ours so it'll be easier for them to digest.
"Um, no thanks. I'm good," Hiccup declines the offer. "It's okay. You can have it back," Zenna politely refuses the fish. "Your losses, you two," Toothless says and gulps the fish back down. I look at Zenna, confused as to why she doesn't like regurgitated fish, for a minute before shrugging and gulping down the fish.
Then these Terrible Terrors come, flocking like seagulls, and they set their sights on our fish. "Back off, pests!" Toothless and I growl, protectively clutching our catch close. Then Toothless spots a cheeky Terror making off with a fish and quickly snatches it back. "Haha! Better luck next time, squirt!" Toothless taunts him. "Okay, Night Fury, you've forced my paw!" the Terrible Terror then prepares to fire. But, just as I hear the faint hiss of gas, Toothless fires a weak fireball directly into the Terror's mouth and the blast backfires. The little dragon slumps to the ground in defeat.
"Huh, not so fireproof on the inside, are you?" Hiccup chuckles before saying, "There you go." And gives the cheeky little thief a fish. Toothless and I look at him and Zenna, offended. We caught the fish so it is ours, not the Terrible Terror's! "Oh, relax, you two. It's just one fish," Zenna chides us. The Terrible Terror eats the fish and curls up between our two younglings. Hiccup and Zenna look at each other briefly before leaning against our flanks and stroke the Terrible Terror.
"Everything we know about you guys…is wrong…" Hiccup whispers, Zenna nodding in agreement. "Three hundred years…We've been wrong about them. And they've been wrong about us," she says.
Toothless and I realize it now.
All these years of war, hatred and bloodshed have been a lost cause, both for our kind and the humans. If only dragons and Vikings can put aside their differences, like Toothless and I have done with Hiccup and Zenna, maybe…maybe things would be different and we can all live in peace. It'd also help if the Queen wasn't in the picture…
"Elias would be so proud of us right now, Hiccup," Zenna remarks, interrupting my thoughts. "He sure would…You miss him?" Hiccup replies. Zenna looks at him and I feel my heart cry out for her. If only I can meet Zenna's older brother…then I can fully understand how much she loves him…and, maybe, I can grow to love him the way I love Zenna. "Every day…" Zenna replies softly with a sad smile. "Yeah…Me too…" Hiccup murmurs, smiling sadly as well, before his eyes widen.
"Our parents…"
Toothless and I are puzzled as to why our little humans have suddenly started panicking. "We better get going!" Zenna yelps and we fly back to the Cove at Berk. Hiccup and Zenna are both so jumpy that they only pat us on our heads and swiftly leave, leaving me and Toothless to ponder when they will come back.
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-GuardianDragon98
