Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon. I do own a good number of the toys and merch, and am eagerly awaiting the next book "How to Steal a Dragon's Sword".
Warning: I did use some swearing in this chapter. If you have never seen a PG-13 movie you may learn a few new words. Otherwise I think you're good to go. :)
The clouds that had rolled in were dark and threatening looking. Mike heard rolls of thunder but they sounded far off and he didn't see any lightning. Must've been a good distance off he figured. He was still getting nervous though, flying in the dark during the rain the second time ever that the two of them tried the contraption he'd built did not sound fun.
A noise penetrated his focus, it sounded like thunder, but regular, a thumping… He shifted his seat to look behind him. And yelped. A helicopter was behind them, granted it was just an observation one from the park, not like it was a military one, but still startling. Toothless craned his own head and seemed to give a disgruntled grunt before angling his wings and beating them strongly, sending them upwards. Even as Mike moved his feet to compensate he realized they were shooting practically straight up towards the nasty looking clouds. His fingers clamped down on the saddle so hard he knew they would ache once he convinced them to let go.
Now they were flying through damp, heavy mist that quickly saturated his t-shirt and jeans. Soaked and becoming cold and hearing thunder much, much closer, all Mike wanted was to be on solid ground again. The winds in the clouds forced both boy and dragon to keep moving, shifting as the winds did. Toothless was already starting to strain in his wing beats. Mike really didn't want to get struck by lightning. He was only fourteen! He didn't want to die, granted he'd die doing what he'd always dreamed of, but the dreams had never been this cold or uncomfortable.
And then the rains hit. A wave of drenching, horribly cold water spattering against them. Toothless actually yelped, closing his wings and causing the two of them to fall like a stone. Once they fell below the cloud cover the Night Fury reopened them, turning the fall into a shallow dive. Now the dragon was flying, head swiveling back and forth as though he were looking for something. Apparently the bad weather had caused the helicopter to land, as bad as the rain was it wasn't like the pilot of it had a chance in hell of seeing them anyway.
Mike hoped Toothless was looking for a place to land. He was pressed as close as possible to the dragon below him, trying to get some of the heat the dragon normally produced into his rapidly chilling body. He was sniffling and really wanted to wipe the wet hair from his eyes, but he couldn't get his hands to let go of the saddle in cooperation.
Toothless must've seen what he was looking for as he darted down in a sudden dive, causing Mike to cry out. Then he was back-winging, and then landing and Mike wanted to fall off and kiss the wet ground. He did slide off of Toothless who was fluttering his wings again, groaning. The dragon came beside him, shoving him in a direction until he began to walk that way, arms wrapped around himself, shivering with shoes squelching at every step.
Looking down he realized the grass was cut, which made him wonder where they were. Had Toothless brought him back to the campsite? He hoped not since he really didn't want to be thrown back into the drama again. Though he really wanted to reassure his family too…
Then they passed a neat, if slightly flattened by the rain, flowerbed. That was when he realized he was in the garden that was the territory of the Chinese dragon, an Imperial something. Beneficence? The name was longer than that…And oh, god he was off the path. He'd been following the rather insistent Toothless and they were walking across the pretty lawns he and his family had looked at a few weeks ago. The rain had eased up a bit and he peered around looking for the furious dragon to come after him even as he still followed the Night Fury.
Toothless let loose a rather loud snarl that trailed into one of the complex sounds he usually made. They kept walking until Mike could make out the pagoda building that had been a distance away when he'd visited with his parents, now it was right in front of him. Toothless smacked him in the head with his wing when Mike hesitated at the entrance, and growled slightly before the dragon padded in.
Beneficence was lying curled within the base of the building. Mike was shocked at exactly how huge the other dragon was. Laying down the dragon's shoulder was at least two feet above Toothless' when the Night Fury was standing. The other dragon looked over Toothless, shifting and moving to make room for the Night Fury within the building, before peering at Mike. Toothless turned and looked at Mike who was very carefully sidling past the Chinese dragon and made a sound that almost resembled an impatient bark.
Mike quickly hurried over, almost running to get back near the dragon he knew. He ran his hands over the saddle, removing it and trying to lay it out neatly beside the wall of the building on the other side of Toothless. He hoped the saddle would dry okay since he didn't have anything to clean it with, or condition it, all of the stuff he'd been using had been left at the cliff side. After he'd finished that he found himself being pushed and shoved by Toothless' wings and tail until he was pressed against the dragon's side again. He slid down until he was curled against Toothless again, it was hard to believe that probably less than an hour ago he'd been in the same position. Now he was within a building listening to the rain, now slowly pattering against the roof tiles. He slowly stopped shivering and began to relax. Unfortunately this meant he was now free to think about how quickly everything had gone wrong.
-xXx-
Toothless was seething as he flew away from the cliff. His Rider had tried to talk to the others and they had attacked him. He'd been so enraged that it was only feeling the touch of his human that kept him from killing the others. It had made him think again, rather than react. Ever since his Hiccup he had generally avoided killing humans, though when they went out of their way to pester him he felt justified in hurting them. He had been upset at seeing Mike knocked away, but once the boy was on his back again he was calmer. Hearing Mike's murmur about leaving he had to agree that it was the wisest idea, even with the oncoming storm.
And oh what fun that was. Or at least he remembered enjoying flying through storms before. Now with his wings giving warning twinges, it wasn't as good as memories had led him to believe. Fortunately they quickly lost the human flying thing. Not that is was hard, as noisy as it was you could hear it coming for miles. He'd listened to the other dragons occasionally discuss the irritation of having some metal thing fly through the air as though it belonged there. They ruled the sky, not humans.
Between his long-disused wings and the rain he knew they would need to land, and soon. He could hear teeth chattering from his Rider, who wore even less than what Hiccup had during the summer. He could feel shivers where the boy was pressed close to him as well. Toothless couldn't exactly remember how fragile humans were. While this was simply a brisk summer rain, he had vague memories of humans getting cold and getting sick. Dying even, occasionally. Granted that was usually during the winter, but this human was no stubbornly strong Viking either.
He remembered one flight he and Hiccup shared right towards the end of the fall season. It had been rather cold and they had both gone home soaked. Hiccup had had a slight sniffle when they had been arrived. Astrid had not been amused. As he remembered it she had ordered Hiccup to bed, and smacked him if he tried to leave it for the next three days. Did that mean his new Rider needed a bed? Or just to get out of the wet?
Normally if he decided he wanted a cave he'd simply locate one and move in. If there happened to be an inhabitant, dragon or animal, he'd simply snarl and maybe have a quick fight until they gave up and either chose to share or to leave. But having a human to look after changed things. What if the other dragon went after Mike, seeing him as a weakness? Then Toothless would have to kill them, possibly traumatizing the human. It would be bad.
Wait… Beneficence had that human building his tenders had made him. Even as much space as the dragon took up, he ought to be able to shove over enough for the two of them to fit. And Beneficence would understand where Toothless would be coming from in the need to protect his Rider.
He had already dropped below the clouds, but now he had a destination to look for. He wished he could simply keep flying, take his human someplace far from here to keep him safe, but he was out of condition. Between this flight and the first he was feeling worn. He searched as he flew along for the wall that would outline Beneficence's territory. His head twisted back and forth, becoming more and more agitated as the shivers from the human on his back increased. Finally seeing the wall through the sheets of rain had him diving. He heard a faint whimper from behind him, but his Rider still moved with him.
Landing was far better this time, but he felt his rider tumble off less than gracefully. Seeing the now drenched boy standing there he shoved at him until Mike began to follow.
"Beneficence, shove over!' He growled once he was closer to the silly fancy that passed for a building. The layers and curliques, tile and everything seemed ridiculously overdone to him. He preferred the solid carvings the humans he had once lived with had used to decorate.
Beneficence poked his nose out, snorting slightly at the rain. "What brings your cheerful self here Nameless?"
Toothless walked in, shaking to get some of the wet off as Mike followed behind him. Beneficence snorted again at the brief shower, pulling back slightly.
"I am no longer nameless," Toothless replied proudly. "Nor alone." He reached out with a wing, hurrying Mike inside. Had the human no sense? It was dry in here. He found himself growling lowly when the other dragon sniffed at Mike.
"So I see." Beneficence shifted, curling tighter to one wall and allowed Toothless to curl in a different place. Mike had apparently regained enough movement to haul the harness off of him, laying it out in an open area of the floor to dry. Toothless kept one eye on him and the other on Beneficence. While he was pretty sure the other dragon wouldn't hurt his human, after seeing the humans viciously attack his rider he wasn't going to trust anybody. Once he had Mike safely nestled against him again he relaxed slightly. And slightly more once he heard the faint sounds humans made when sleeping. He curled one wing over the boy to help keep him warm.
"You said you are no longer nameless," Beneficence asked, keeping his own voice to a low, soothing rumble. "What shall I call you?"
"Toothless," he replied, rather warily. While every dragon knew of his name, knew of his accomplishment, and knew better than to mock it, some had seen the fact that he had set it aside as a reputation due to the foolishness of the name. He hadn't ever seen it that way. His name was his, silly or not it had been given to him by one of the most important beings in his life. He hesitated, the next part was too important to have the other dragon mock him about. "My Rider knew my name without anybody telling him."
Beneficence blinked. The larger dragon seemed startled, before dipping his head. "You are welcome here with your rider, Toothless." The dragon paused. "It has been a long time since there has been a dragon who has allowed a rider."
"Centuries, yes." Toothless agreed, lifting his wing to gaze at his human.
Beneficence curled a bit tighter, cocking his head in a slightly mocking way. "I do recall you claiming you would accept no human until you touched the sky again."
"And I didn't," Toothless countered testily, though the emotion drained away quickly. He shifted again, conscious of how the need to curl protectively around his Rider curtailed a lot of his ability to emphasize what he was saying. The simple joy he put into his words couldn't truly express what he wanted to say with wings fully spread and body held proudly. "We flew. We touched the clouds and flew together. Wind and Sky how I missed it,"
"I have to admit I am slightly curious as to why you came here, however." Toothless could hear the eagerness in the other dragon's voice. The idea of him the loner, the one who had lived with humans before deciding to avoid them completely would be gossip fodder for the other dragon for years. Even those who tended to avoid Beneficence for the way he sort of still lived among humans would be willing to come and listen to his telling of this tale.
"You were the only one I assumed would allow my Rider in without tiresome displays of dominance or fights." Toothless replied irritably, flicking his tail to cover his human who had shivered slightly. He turned and looked at Beneficence. "They attacked him." He growled low and threateningly.
Beneficence jerked his head back. "Other dragons? Really, I would assume seeing you beside the human might make even the dimmest Terror pause-"
"Not dragons, humans. Humans actually attacked him!" Now Toothless' voice was a loud enough roar that Mike shifted and murmured, causing the dragon to quiet, his tail flicking swiftly to show his agitation. "I would understand them attacking me," he snorted softly, "it wouldn't be the first time. But to throw my Rider to the ground, crush him into it… I wasn't going to stand for that."
Toothless seethed quietly for a bit, the other dragon staying silent as well, in shock or horror he wasn't sure of and didn't care. He needed a way to get the humans to leave his Rider alone. Then a vague memory came to him. He blinked slightly before turning to the larger dragon. "Didn't you say you could speak to your humans?"
"I did at one time…" Beneficence seemed rather embarrassed, as Toothless looked at him confused. "Haven't you noticed how their language shifts ridiculously quickly at times? I did speak it, but fell out of the habit for the past, oh, few hundred years while waiting for my human to turn up again, and by then what I knew how to pronounce had changed a bit from what was spoken. Not to mention the humans had forgotten as well and considered it only a tale. Given that none of them were my human, I didn't really see any point in correcting them. By the time I came here none of them really knew or cared about the old stories, and my caretakers now are second and third generations in this country and don't even speak the modern tongue of their homeland. They more or less follow the instructions that were decided when they built this place. I'm afraid that only a scholar would understand me, and if I tried to communicate to them the announcements of 'amazing talking dragon' would drown out anything I was trying to say. You know how easily riled humans can get. A broody female Nightmare doesn't even begin to compare."
Toothless sighed, well there went that possibility of resolution. He found himself yawning, it had been a tiring day. Flying, fighting, flying again, he hadn't been so busy in many years. He settled a bit more. "Well, I will protect this rider even as I protected my previous one. I will not allow anyone to harm him."
-xXx-
Mike woke up with a crick in his neck and a feeling of complete confusion. Where was he? It was dark. He jerked upright only to bounce off of a dark leathery thing.
Dark, leathery… Wings! He moaned slightly as everything that had happened (today? yesterday?) came back to him. The wing was retracted over his head, however the first thing he saw wasn't the familiar dark face of Toothless, but the bright colored, curious, and way too close head of the Chinese dragon studying him.
He jerked back with a yelp, stumbling over one of Toothless' paws before falling against the dragon's side. Toothless gave a faint grunt, waiting until Mike regained his feet before rolling up onto his own. The dragon made a chirruping growl and gently butted his head against Mike's middle.
And that was just weird. He'd fallen asleep against Toothless when he'd been working on the saddle and harness, and had been butted before, but those had been along the lines of "Wake-up, look alive!"-type head butts. This one was more of a "Have a nice sleep?"-type. And the fact that he was comparing and contrasting head butts showed that he definitely had not gotten enough sleep. Or something.
The larger dragon beside the two of them stretched, his claws scraping the stone of the floor, and that would explain why Mike felt so gawdawful sore today. Stone, even with a dragon cushioning him, was not comfortable. The other dragon seemed almost amused. Or kind of like that. The dragon rumbled in a deep, almost chiming way, his tail and wings flicking in a kind of formalized way. Toothless on the other hand, growled a bit and did a shimmying stretch. It seemed too ritualized to Mike. It stuck out, was out of place for what other people called animals. But then he was still groggy, maybe he was seeing things and Beneficence had left before he could really study it. And wouldn't the people here who studied dragons all of the time know more than him?
Mike walked over to the entryway, only to hear the buzzing roar of a helicopter overhead. He quickly retreated to the shadows within the building and carefully peered around the side of the doorway. There was one low flying one, just to the side heading away. He could make out a W and several other letters following it on the side of the helicopter. A news station. Oh crap, how many people had seen their flight?
He felt a bump from behind him and turned, seeing the now eager Night Fury practically dancing in impatience. Despite everything that was hovering over him, ready to crash down on his head, Mike couldn't help but grin at the dragon.
He went back inside, checking over the saddle and mechanics of the harness. The whole saddle looked like it could use some conditioning, but otherwise okay. The fin seemed fine, though he could feel that something to make it move easier, WD-40, grease, something, would probably be a good idea in the future. He placed the whole contraption back on the dragon, Toothless practically bouncing, his eyes firmly on the sky.
When they ventured to the entrance of the building again Mike furtively looked out and around. With the Chinese dragon gone would people come and clean in here? He didn't know and figured the two of them should get away from here pretty quick. There were no helicopters, no people. Really no people, which was strange, usually there'd be some noise from the tourists down by the gate. Once he had walked around to where he could see said gates and was startled to see them shut.
Mike turned to Toothless, who seemed highly impatient with this skulking around. Running a hand along one of the fins surrounding the dragon's face, he walked beside him before grabbing a hold of the saddle and pulling himself into it. He automatically fastened his safety harness, slightly marveling that such a movement was so familiar to him already. He then leaned down to the dragon, patting the Night Fury's neck.
"Time to face the music." He whispered as the dragon eagerly shot into the air.
-xXx-
Drew glared at the hovering vultures, pardon… "reporters," surrounding him and his family. At the moment they were distracted, listening to the park superintendent who was mouthing the same bullshit he'd been saying since the video came to light yesterday for the newly arrived news crews. It, more or less, was a summary that yes, a young man had been spotted on a dragon. Yes they had managed to find him once, but the dragon had flown away with him again, and that had completely pissed Drew off when he'd heard that update. How could the dragon fly off with his brother when they'd supposedly surrounded it? Did they just forget to take into account the fact it had wings? Oh, and the final comment the man was blustering on about now, how they had high hopes to recover the boy and reunite him with his parents.
He'd even overheard one of the park service people say that the dragon that had taken his brother couldn't fly, which was an obvious sign of idiocy. He'd seen the video of it flying, hundreds had seen it fly on YouTube. Obviously that person had been smoking something.
He and the rest of his family were off to the side, under a hastily constructed canopy. Dad was busy trying to keep their mom from having a complete breakdown. She kept whispering, babbling about how she should've known… She should've suspected something. Which was a little crazy in and of itself. Who the heck would've thought Mike was going to go out into the woods where the dragons were. He knew his little brother was off in little ways, but he wasn't suicidal. It was just so random and crazy that no rational person would think it. But dad was keeping her calm and he and Ashley were keeping the reporters away.
He had his 6'5" frame to use to tower over most of the scrawny little scavengers. They generally backed off when he crossed his arms and loomed so he hadn't needed to get physical with anybody yet. Though if another one of them started to pester his mom with a "So when did you stop beating your kids?"-type question, he'd happily throw away his acceptance to Annapolis just so he could knock the bastard's teeth in. But he hadn't had to do that yet. Since he'd been working out since even before he'd hit puberty, he'd been filling out along with growing taller. He certainly wasn't a beanpole, and with the irritation he was feeling, he must've looked impressive enough going by the rather hesitant looks he'd received from most of the news people.
Ashley on the other hand seemed less threatening. She was sitting just behind him, filing her nails. But she was actually far more terrifying. One of the reporters had looked at him and tried to go around him by Ashley, only to get caught by her stare. A stare that said "I will take these pretty nails and shove them in your chest to rip out your still-beating heart before crushing it in front of your eyes." Nobody had taken her up on that, preferring to back away from the two of them. Apparently word had gotten around quick, as an arc had opened around them after that. While he was pretty sure she couldn't actually carry out the promise her eyes were giving, he knew from childhood that she was a nasty, knock-down, drag-out fighter. He and Mike had quickly learned that it took the two of them to take her out in a sibling fight. On your own you were toast.
The two of them had been pestered for a few soundbites, once people realized that as long as they avoided the parents, the kids weren't quite so hostile. As long as they left mom alone he didn't really care. Anyway the reporters hadn't gotten much. Ashley might want to strangle Mike when they found him, but that was a family matter, and she wasn't about to spread slanders that would only upset their parents and guarantee her a spot on Maury. She never wanted to look trashy. He on the other hand had apparently not given very interesting answers to their questions. He remembered one extremely slimy "Investigative reporter," as he'd introduced himself, who'd asked him all sorts of leading questions. "Did your brother seem secretive? Did you notice anything unusual? Does he have a history of mental illness or drug abuse?"
Drew's answer had been short and sweet. "He seemed the happiest I've seen him in a long time." Which was rather true. It was weird, but during dinners and breakfasts Mike had simply been what could only be described as bubbly and almost giddy with happiness. And somehow different…
But then Mike had always been slightly different. Not really in looks, he had the same black hair Drew did from their dad, and the same slightly dusky complexion all three of them had gotten from their mom's Italian ancestry, but he'd never fit in with their peers. While the three of them had almost gotten used to being the new kids due to their dad being transferred from base to base, he and Ashley never had the problems fitting in that Mike did. While he'd usually join whatever sports team was looking for people to get to know the other kids, Ashley managed to seem to slide into whatever cliques existed in the school like she'd been born there. She apparently manipulated them in a way Machiavelli would've admired, they always asked her to join them. But Mike, almost within a day each and every time, would be stamped with the Weirdo Mark and everybody would avoid him. Even the other kids who weren't popular would avoid him.
Then they came here. He'd heard his mom and dad discussing how seeing dragons in real life might help Mike come to terms with his fantasies, and put them behind him. But it wasn't that Mike was out of place here, or disillusioned. It was more like he'd come home…
Suddenly Drew heard a loud, shrill, descending screech from somewhere. Above? To the side? It was almost like a jet engine noise. Drew jerked his head around to try and see where it was coming from, realizing several of the reporters around him were doing the same. Then one of the reporters pointed up. Before Drew could even look up to see what the idiot was pointing at, he was knocked back, almost trampled as people began fleeing away. One cameraman had partly tripped over him, planting a knee in his middle and knocking the wind out of him. Drew clutched his stomach, swearing in language his dad would've given him heck for if he wasn't standing protectively in front of his wife as the reporters stampeded. Drew managed to get to his feet in time to see the dark blur that was rapidly approaching the point where the Park superintendent had been speaking, his jaw fell open as the blur suddenly flicked huge, dark wings out, slowing and becoming a recognizable dragon. The dragon set down rather gently for such a dramatic entrance, though it's bright green eyes glared at the surrounding humans. It stood on stocky legs, looking extremely pissed, yet smug as well, its tail lashing back and forth.
"Okay, was that really necessary now?"
That rather exasperated voice carried quite well over the silence that had fallen with the landing of the dragon.
The dragon's head ducked down and now Drew could see Mike, perched happily on the damn dragon's shoulders. His brother's hands were doing something, then he slid down the side of the dragon and came to stand beside the dragon's head. Even at this distance Drew could see the color fade from his brother's face.
"Oh, I am so dead." He saw Mike take a half step back, the dragon curling around him as he did so.
Then, from the corner of his eye, Drew saw movement. Several of the park rangers were running up, bringing in a kind of gun. Flare gun? Something like anyway, it had some sort of canister attached to it. The dragon beside his brother suddenly snarled, knocking his brother to the ground. Drew had run forward several paces before he realized Mike was unharmed, the dragon standing over him protectively, the hostility clearly for the approaching ranger.
"Aw man, didn't we go through this once already?"
Drew could only watch as his brother rolled out from under the dragon, glaring at the rangers as hard as the dragon was.
"No! Would you put that away? We can leave again you know." Mike snapped at the rangers, irritation heavy in his voice. Normally hearing his brother snapping like that would've had him laughing, Mike was about as threatening as a Chihuahua. Normally, however, his brother didn't have a snarling hell-creature on his side. "And you," here he saw Mike shove at the dragon's head beside him, "stop aggravating them." The Night Fury, that was what it had to be he'd heard Mike go over the description of the breed so many times he could probably spout them in his sleep, looked at his brother and Drew felt himself hold his breath. That creature could snap his brother in half, with one bite! But the dragon relaxed a little as the rangers backed off, even rubbing its head against his brother, making him smile. Then the dragon's head whipped around, a growl starting up as it glared at the Superintendent who had come back from wherever he'd fled to and was trying to get close to where his brother stood.
"No! No, no, no, nononono! No!" His brother's head whipped between the dragon and approaching man before he moved closer to the dragon, now half covered by one of the dragon's half-spread wings. He then turned towards the man again. "Would you people stop trying to grab me? That's what keeps upsetting him."
"Mikey? What are you doing? They're trying to help you!"
Drew jerked around, to see his mother standing behind him, a few steps farther back. He'd been so distracted by Mike and the dragon he hadn't noticed her leaving the chairs under the canopy. Her face was even paler than Mike's had been upon seeing the crowd he had faced, and her eyes were wide as she looked at Mike standing next to the dragon.
"Mom?" Drew heard the stricken sound in his brother's voice, and saw the shock on his face.
"Baby, what were you thinking?" He could also hear the stress in his mother's voice. He caught his father's eyes as the man came up behind his mom to stand protectively by her as several of the reporters had returned when they saw nobody had been burnt to a crisp yet.
"Um… You remember how that one guidance councilor told me to chase my dreams?" Drew saw Mike smile worriedly in their direction, before gesturing to the dragon beside him. "What do you do when you catch them?"
Drew cursed as their mother's eyes rolled up into her head and she began to slide to the ground. His dad caught most of her weight quickly, not letting her hit the ground. He saw his dad scoop her up and retreat to the canopy set aside for them.
Drew was making sure that none of the now clamoring reporters surrounding them followed, planting himself in front of the entrance and glaring at them threateningly. However, as he was distracted by that, he missed seeing Ashley slipping out. He saw her stalking towards their brother and the dragon, her mouth moving in what he was sure was a low voiced constant litany of curses. Mike at least looked worried as she approached. However before she could get close, the dragon beside their brother shoved him aside to snarl at her, as threatening as it'd been to the rangers.
Ashley froze, her face becoming chalk white as the dragon bared its teeth at her. Drew was able to come up behind her, getting an arm around her middle and yanking her back, retreating several feet. She swore, now at him, now that she was no longer frozen in terror from the dragon. He managed to dodge one elbow she swung back at his stomach, before shaking her.
"I know you're pissed at him." He hissed at her. "Trust me, I understand. But attacking me sure as hell isn't going to accomplish much. And do you really want to get on the news as the girl who got incinerated by a dragon?" Ashley glared at him, but wasn't trying to hit him again, which was a plus. "Can you look after mom? I mean dad's with her, but she really needs people looking after her. Please? I'll deal with Mike."
"And what the hell are you going to do?" She snarked back. "Tell the dragon hey give me my brother to smack 'cause he's being an idiot?"
Drew looked back over his shoulder, where Mike was still standing by himself, next to the dragon looking over at them. He looked like he wanted to come over to them, but also didn't want to leave the dragon. Going by the way the rangers had gathered in a huddle over to the side, he could see why his brother hadn't left. "I'll figure something out."
Ashley snorted, but obviously backed down, turning to go under the canopy. "Just please promise me you'll smack him, at least once."
"As long as I'm sure I won't lose a limb." He replied, as he turned back to study the scene. The reporters seemed to have streamed back in as fast as they had left, or possibly simply bred more, spawned perhaps. At least there was a crush between him and his brother, with a line of the rangers now trying to herd the reporters back. At least they weren't bunched together plotting against his brother, he really didn't want to watch as Mike flew off again. He slid around a number of the people by keeping to the side, getting nearer to where the rangers had congregated. It was a fairly straight and crowd-less shot from there to where his brother was. However, not getting stopped by the rangers was the problem. As was their weapons as he saw one bring out what was definitely a nasty looking weapon. It wasn't the flare gun or whatever they'd had before, this looked deadly.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?"
He had to snap his head around to look in shock at the shout. It was a stout, middle-aged woman who looked absolutely furious, though fortunately not at him. She had a lock on the ranger who was hefting the gun. "Do you realize that is the only known Night Fury in the Western Hemisphere? Don't you dare shoot him! I will bring you up on charges for killing an endangered species so fast you're head will spin off!" She charged up to that ranger, still shouting, with a number of other researchers trailing behind her. She began a dressing down of damn near all of the rangers in the area that a Marine drill sergeant would've been impressed by. It did however distract them, as between the researchers and the reporters, nobody was watching him.
It didn't take long to approach the dragon, even with having to circle around to avoid being seen by most of the other people present. He paused as the dragon turned and glared at him. It put one clawed foot down, said claws digging into the soft ground as the dragon flexed them.
"Mike? Would you call it off? I just want to talk." As Drew waited, he held his hands out, showing he had nothing in them. Given that all he was wearing was jeans and a t-shirt, it wasn't like he had a lot of hiding places.
"Drew?" Mike didn't walk around the dragon, instead, wiggling under it. He seemed surprised to see him. "How'd you get so close?"
"Carefully." Drew replied dryly. "Can we talk? Or is your 'dream' going to eat me?"
"You're not going to try and grab me and run, are you?" Mike asked mistrustfully, staying partly under the dragon.
"No, I promise that. Can't promise I won't smack you once though. And don't you dare say you don't deserve that at least. Ashley's planning on skinning you."
Mike studied him. "Okay, I can buy that." He patted the dragon. "It's okay Toothless, really. He's not going to hurt me." The affectionate tone was just bizarre. Like seeing a little old granny cooing to a slavering, rabid, rottweiler. But the dragon stopped growling, and as Drew slowly came closer it stretched its head out and sniffed at him. It then seemed to cock its head, an odd warble coming from it as he came close to his brother. It looked between the two of them, as Mike had crawled out from underneath and now stood next to Drew. He could swear the dragon seemed to relax slightly, and as the two of them sat down beside it the dragon went back to watching the rest of the humans surrounding them, laying down and curling around them. They were mostly concealed by the dragon's wings, with Mike relaxing against the dragon's side. Drew couldn't quite trust the creature that much, though he had the tail resting against his back.
"So… Care to explain?" Drew gestured at the dragon vaguely. "I mean…Really?"
"Uh, well…" Mike rubbed at his neck with one hand. "It's not like I planned this. Well not before we got here or anything. I mean if I hadn't seen Toothless that first day during the tour, probably nothing else would've happened."
Drew listened, fairly patiently he thought. He didn't scream "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" when Mike admitted to sneaking out to the woods to try and find the dragon. He didn't smack him when Mike admitted he got lost in the woods. He did stop him when Mike started to excitedly describe the mechanism for getting the dragon in the air, and didn't that explain why all the rangers were so confused.
"Wait, wait…You got the designs from a dream?"
"Yeah, I mean I had to adjust them a bit because I wasn't sure exactly how to make some of the-"
"Just hold up." Drew held his hands up. "Dreams? Really?"
"Yeah, I know it sounds crazy, but they've worked out really well, not to say I couldn't improve them, definitely somebody with training could do better-"
Drew found himself holding his head in his hands. "Just please, please, should you tell mom any of this, leave that part out." Mike just looked puzzled, but then kept up the story. It was crazy, yes, but his brother kind of had rock solid proof as well, in the dragon laying next to him.
"So? What now?" Mike looked at him, still worried.
"Well, first…" Drew had resettled himself during the story, and was now leaning against the dragon's side as well. It was surprisingly warm. He'd expected it to be cool, like a snake. Then he reached over and smacked his fist into Mike's upper arm.
"Ow! What the…" Mike glared at him. The dragon had craned its head around at the sound of flesh being hit.
"He deserved it." Drew told the dragon mildly, he was pretty sure he was becoming a little punch-drunk from tiredness. It looked at him, then Mike, before huffing slightly. Drew could swear it rolled its eyes as it turned back towards the reporters. "And stop glaring at me." He told Mike. "You caused mom to pass out, she's been practically panicking since last night, I don't think any of us have gotten any sleep since you disappeared. A punch to the arm that isn't even going to bruise is far less than you deserve."
"Hasn't been exactly sunshine and roses for me either." Mike muttered resentfully. "I meant what are we going to do about, well, them." Here he waved over at the crowd that was concealed from them by the dragon's wing.
Drew sighed. "What were you trying do accomplish in the first place?"
"Well I really wanted to show them that I had managed to find a way to get Toothless," and Drew was still having trouble understanding why the heck his brother kept calling the dragon that, "into the air. And I wanted to show that he wasn't going to attack, but then they attacked us, and now Toothless is all stressed and all I can't figure a way to get them to stop and listen."
"Well. If you wanted to show that the dragon wasn't going to bite the limb off of anybody who came close, wouldn't seeing me next to you maybe give them pause, at least a little?"
Mike was quiet for a moment. "Well, I doubt it'd annoy them any more than I've managed already."
"Let's do that then."
.
.
.
A/N: I am so sorry about the wait for this. I am still working on it, the muse just comes and goes when it will. I know what needs to happen before the end (hint, I'm guessing I'm about at the middle) but there's a lot of writing and typing before I get there. And I'll be starting a new job *does the happy dance* so I have no guarantee when the next chapter will be up. With a $10 increase in pay comes a lot more work and responsibility. I'll still try to work on this story, but please be patient.