Chapter 10:

I'm so sorry it's been so long since the last update, but that's what happens when you have to juggle college, work, and FanFiction. I'll try hard to update a little faster, but unfortunately, I can't make any promises.

Terrence didn't really have anywhere else to go, so he followed the Haddock family back to Berk, riding on Bigbee and cradling Scales in his arms. He had trouble keeping his eyes off of Camicazi, but he somehow managed to make it without her noticing. Terrence wasn't sure how Hiccup would react to him having a crush on Camicazi, but he knew that there was little chance of it being all that pretty. Talking to the father of the girl you had a crush on was no picnic, and Terrence knew it.

When they did get back to Berk, Hiccup had to arrange a meeting in order to explain all that had happened while he and his family were the Dragon's Edge. Terrence sat on the steps of the Great Hall, nervously wringing his hands. Scales, who was sitting in the nervous teen's lap, looked up at him in curiosity. Purring, the baby Basilisk nuzzled his human friend affectionately. Terrence gave the dragonet a small smile, and patted him on the head. It was hard to be unhappy at such innocence.

But Terrence still didn't know how these people would treat him. He'd been on the run from an angry dragon, and had little time to stop and make friends with anyone. As far as he was concerned, Camicazi and Scales were his only friends.

Camicazi.

Oh, how tough and brave and pretty she was. What more could you expect from Astrid's daughter? She might be a Haddock, but she was a Hofferson by heart. Her experience with a double-bladed axe only added on to the list of things about her that fascinated him.

Terrence suddenly snapped himself out of his reverie.

Odin almighty, I've fallen in love with her.

His look of horror and shock slowly turned into a smile, which Scales tried to mimic.

Camicazi found Terrence on the steps outside the Great Hall, with Scales in his lap. He was smiling, which she found both interesting and strange. There was a chance he was thinking about her, but she strangely didn't mind that possibility. Perhaps her interest in him was stronger than she originally thought.

She didn't know when Terrence noticed her, but the next thing she knew, he was standing in front of her, Scales cradled in his arms.

"Do you want to help me train them?"

Camicazi looked at both Terrence and Scales as she registered what Terrence had asked. "I thought maybe you wanted to help me train Bigbee and Scales," he said, "There's still a lot for us to learn about them, after all." Scales squeaked in agreement. And it might help me get closer to Camicazi, Terrence thought to himself.

Camicazi shrugged, and then smiled. "Sure, I'd love to help," she said.

Terrence's heart nearly leapt out of his chest. She said yes!

Scales looked up at his human friend with a look of curiosity etched onto his face.

Around that same time, Draco and Aludrnari were with their respective dragons, flying over the island of Berk and examining the forest.

"Are you sure that this is a good idea?" Aludrnari asked from upon Peril's back. The red Typhoomerang wore a matching expression of uncertainty.

Draco gave his girlfriend a nod in confirmation. "No one's been taking a lot of time to explore these forests, and we don't know what kinds of creatures could be dwelling here," he said, "Besides, it'll be good practice for when I go out exploring while Camicazi is on her chief shift."

"If she'll want to do that, anyway," Aludrnari added. Camicazi was more of a fighter, like her mother, than a leader, like her father, and they both knew that.

Draco shrugged. "We're twins," he said, "There's a chance that Dad will have us both take the role as leader of the village."

"But there's also a chance he may not," Aludrnari said.

Draco sighed and slumped backwards onto Jet's back. The teenaged Night Fury shot his rider a look of pity. Draco lay on the dragon's back for a while before noticing what appeared to be another Night Fury flying quite a ways above them. Squinting his eyes, he tried to get a good look at the people riding the dragon.

Is that...Hic and Unn?

Hic had to admit to himself that this might not have been his best idea. Taking the girl you had a thing for on a romantic flight upon dragonback seemed like a good idea whenever Hiccup told him about the flight that he and Toothless had taken Astrid on shortly after she discovered the Night Fury. At this point, Hic was desperate for any kind of opportunity to tell Unn his true feelings, but maybe this wasn't the greatest strategy (if you could call it that).

"You know, you didn't have to do this," Unn said from her position behind Hic in the saddle. Toothless Jr. gave a nod in agreement. Hic sighed, "I just wanted to do something nice for you," he said, "I've been wanting to spend more time with you these past few days, and I've been asking my Dad about what to do."

Unn reached around Hic's torso and hugged him close. "Maybe you should stop trying to be your father," she said, "And start trying to be you."

Hic thought for a moment and decided it was worth a try.

What would I do in a situation like this? he asked himself.

Probably stutter and chicken out at the last minute, but he had been trying really hard to grow out of that habit. An idea suddenly formed in the back of his mind, and he was sure it was better than the one he'd just tried.

Slowly, but surely, he placed his hand on top of Unn's.

Come on, you can do this, he said to himself.

"Unn, I..."

He stopped, cleared his throat, and continued in a louder, more confident voice.

"Unn, I...I love..."

Before he could finish, a green and red figure flew past Toothless Jr., who suddenly turned sharply as the figure made its way in the direction of the village. The Night Fury's sharp and sudden turn nearly threw both of his riders off the saddle. "What is it?" Hic asked his dragon friend. Toothless Jr. only shook his head and pressed on. Upon getting closer, Hic realized that the figure that passed them was a Snaptrapper, who had a long, bloody gash on its side.

"I think something's wrong," Unn said, "We should follow that dragon."

Hic reluctantly urged Toothless Jr. forward, silently cursing to himself.

So close!

Terrence and Camicazi had happened upon a stretch of trees that neither of them were familiar with. Upon a closer inspection, they looked even less like trees, which was quite odd.

"This is quite an interesting find," Draco said, placing his hand on one of the tree trunks.

Aludrnari felt a small tremor, and shifted over to her boyfriend. "Something tells me we shouldn't be here," she muttered.

Draco turned to look at her. "Like what?" he asked.

An even bigger and more intense tremor started, and the ground beneath them suddenly moved. They both held onto a tree as the surface moved and shifted, as though trying to shake them off. Then a large dragon head with wood-like skin rose up out of the ground, and turned to look at the two humans and their dragons with lazy, yet kind eyes.

It took them a minute to realize they were standing on the dragon's back.

"Like that!" Aludrnari said, terrified at what was occurring.

Before anything else could happen, both teens went running to their dragons and mounted them, taking off of the large dragon's forest-like back. The forest dragon stared at them calmly, and soon noticed that they were flying away. Letting out a small groan, it lifted itself up out of its napping spot and started trudging after the terrified riders.

"Scales, stay!"

Terrence slowly backed away from the baby Basilisk, keeping his hand up to signal Scales to stay in the spot where he was sitting. The dragonet's body was trembling with the urge to get up and run over to his caring handler, but Terrence's outstretched hand reminded him that he was to stay in that exact spot until he said it was okay to go.

Terrence continued to back away until he was standing right next to Camicazi. The Haddock girl nodded to Fishlegs, who was sitting nearby with the Book of Dragons and a charcoal pen. The Ingerman gave them a thumbs-up. Taking the cue, Terrence let his hand hang for a few moments.

"Scales..."

The dragonet flinched violently at the sound of his name, his muscles twitching in anticipation. In one swift motion, Terrence dropped his hand.

"...Come!"

A split second later, the Basilisk dragonet took off running like an angry Speed Stinger, his little legs pumping wildly as he sprinted up to Terrence. The black-haired teen barely had enough time to react before Scales leaped into his arms and tackled him playfully. Terrence groaned as the eager dragonet showered his face with friendly licks. How'd I do? he seemed to be asking.

"We'll have to work on that later," Terrence muttered in between Scales's licking.

Camicazi laughed at the sight of Terrence being tackled by a baby dragon. Terrence gave her a mock smile as he tried to pull an overly happy Scales off of him. To her horror, Camicazi found that his smile was making her blush.

Odin almighty, I've fallen in love with him.

Surprisingly, she found herself smiling at this realization.

Suddenly, there was a low bellow, and a large forest dragon appeared out of nowhere, chasing two dragons with Draco and Aludrnari on their backs. Hic and Unn were flying back as well, chasing a wounded Snaptrapper that soon collapsed in the middle of the plaza.

"Any idea what that might be?" Terrence asked when he saw the large dragon. Camicazi shook her head fast enough to give herself a headache.

At that time, Hiccup and Astrid had just exited the Great Hall, with Toothless and Stormfly following. Their eyes instantly widened at the enormous forest dragon approaching the village. Hiccup sighed.

"Berk, we have a problem."

Well, what do you think? I got this done faster than I thought I might, thanks to some help from a good friend of mine with the penname OlanaTheWarmblood. In case you all were wondering, the forest dragon is a Foreverwing, from the game Rise of Berk. Feel free to look on the HTTYD Wiki to learn more about this dragon. And what could have injured the Snaptrapper? There's only one way to find out, but in the meantime, leave a review!