I know I haven't updated for a while. Last week was busy, sorry.
Enjoy chapter ten!
-Mitti
~˜~ § ~˜~
Ocean Eyes
Chapter X
~˜~ § ~˜~
She looks like a kid.
Hiccup couldn't stop the thought from forming. Blizzard, with her wide, newly-pale eyes drinking in every detail of information he and the other dragon riders said. The younger children were not unlike her in this aspect; they, too, looked fascinated at the prospect of riding dragons every day. Watching the Dragon Races had been spectacular in its own right.
Hiccup had volunteered Toothless for them to practice on, a choice that resulted in him being tripped by his dragon's tail. Everyone had laughed, and in that moment, with her uncontrollable giggles and flushed cheeks, Blizzard looked like a kid. It didn't help that she still had those silly bandages plastered to her forehead.
After all seven children, with names Hiccup couldn't remember, had gotten a chance to experience how it felt to be on a full-grown dragon's back, he asked if anyone wanted a chance to go for a ride with one of the young adults – meaning him, Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout, Eret, and the twins. Before their introduction-to-riding began, Hiccup gave everyone a stern lecture about how you can't do any tricks or do anything to scare them. He was most fearful about the twins, so he paired the most rambunctious boy with them in the hopes that their wild antics wouldn't frighten him.
Hiccup himself offered one of the younger boys if he wanted a ride. The boy immediately agreed, and with satisfaction Hiccup saw that everyone had been paired up . . . Fishlegs with the short black-haired girl . . . Snotlout with the oldest boy . . . Astrid with the squeaky-voiced girl . . . Eret with an awestruck boy . . .
One left.
He had wide brown eyes and blondish-brown hair, staring at the dragons almost fearfully. Hiccup had seen him around Berk, but he'd never looked this nervous; it was probably because he'd never thought of riding before.
Conflicted, he glanced the younger boy. He was petting Toothless's nose and rambling about how excited he was to the Night Fury. They were the only ones that hadn't gotten on the backs of their dragons.
Before he could decide what to do, help came in an unexpected form.
"Hi!" Blizzard chirped from behind the brown-eyed boy. "I'm Blizzard. I'm new around here. Who're you?"
Hiccup pretended not to watch by showing his pupil how to climb aboard Toothless, before doing the same and instructing him to hold onto his back.
"Timithe," the boy replied shyly, obviously uncomfortable talking to the newcomer.
"D'you want a ride on Dawny-Dee?" the blood-redhead offered instantly. Said UnderIce, who had been hiding in the shadowed part of the arena, perked her head up.
"I-I just came for the lesson," Timithe answered.
"Well, riding's part of the lesson!" Blizzard figured, bending down so she was at Timithe's eye-level. "You don't have to worry. Dawny's perfectly safe," she assured.
"Let's go, Hiccup!" Snotlout called. The other riders were already leading their dragons towards the exit.
"I'm comin'!" he replied, before calling to Blizzard. "Are you ready?"
Blizzard grinned. "Yeah! C'mon, Timithe!"
As Toothless flew out into the sky, the boy on Hiccup's back squealing in excitement, the brunet watched as his blue-eyed friend effortlessly picked up Timithe, placed him in front of her on Dawny, and urged her dragon to shoot into the sky alongside everyone else.
Blizzard wasn't the only one that caught the smile on Timithe's face.
~˜~ § ~˜~
It took Timithe a few minutes to feel brave enough to open his eyes and look at the wide blue sky above him. Blizzard was acutely aware of Timithe loosening his grip on her shirt as he got used to it all, making sure that he didn't completely let go.
Hiccup and Toothless were, to be blunt, showing off. When they zoomed past her and Dawny in a dramatic burst of speed, she rolled her eyes.
After a few more minutes of listening to the loud wind, Timithe asked timidly, "Can your dragon fly as fast as Toothless?" he was genuinely curious, but the older girl took it a different way.
"What? You think Dawny's going too slow?" Blizzard laughed, bending down so she could shout in the UnderIce's ear. "Y'hear that, Dee? Let's go faster!"
Dawny chirped haughtily, as if to say you just watch me! She'd never avoid an opportunity to try and outdo her long-lost Night Fury cousin, and her rider knew that she believed Timithe's words to be a challenge.
With that, she took off in a blaze, rightfully being the "white blur" that she had been back on Depth Island – the first Dawny that Blizzard had met.
The pale girl whooped excitedly, laughing when Timithe squealed and grasped her waist tighter. "You okay?" she asked loudly over the shrieking winds.
"Y-y-yeah!" the little boy replied, smiling shakily.
"Then are you ready to get wet?"
"W-wet–!"
Blizzard picked him up easily once again, situating him in front of her. "Hold on tight!" she said, wrapping her arms securely around his thinner frame. "And hold your breath! Ready, Dawny?!"
"B-but–!" Timithe cried.
"Now!"
The three simultaneously inhaled a split-second before being plunged into chilly ocean waters. Blizzard, feeling giddy with the excitement of showing someone what it was like to fly and be dunked by her dragon, had disregarded her fear of the ocean from a few days ago. She had seen her eyes in her mirror shard, which was still strapped around her left leg, and even though they weren't their original blue shade they were close.
Diving into the blue ocean won't change anything then, right?
Blizzard opened her eyes, blearily seeing jagged rock formations below them. Dawny was navigating swiftly, but after several more seconds the blood-redhead signaled for her to surface. Timithe wasn't trained in holding his breath like they were.
Sure enough, once they surfaced the boy opened his mouth and took a huge, relieved breath, exhaling with a cough. "You okay there?" Blizzard asked, mildly amused as she blinked her eyes that stung from the salt.
"F-f-fine," Timithe replied, but his teeth began chattering as the wind came full-force. "H-how are y-y-you n-not c-c-cold?"
"Oh, Dawny and I've been in the ocean too long to feel cold anymore," she replied humorously, though when she briefly glanced at her arm she thought her skin looked more ghostly than usual. "You ready to go in, then?"
"C-can we g-go under one m-more t-t-time?"
Blizzard grinned. "You don't need to tell us twice!"
~˜~ § ~˜~
"Oh!"
Valka had never expected to walk into her home seeing Blizzard, cross-legged on the floor, staring at the fire. But, alas, it happened.
"Blizzard! I thought you were with Astrid and Hiccup," she said after she got over her initial surprise.
The girl shrugged. "Yesterday I felt a little bit like a third wheel when we went flying," she admitted. "I know it was to show me around, but . . . um . . ."
"They're in love?" Valka offered, chuckling.
The pale girl blushed, a very obvious red painting her cheeks. "Yeah."
"Oh, don' feel embarrassed about it," the older woman said comfortingly. "Those two've been like that before I came, as far as I know. I wouldn' be surprised if Hiccup asks her to marry him someday."
Blizzard nodded, smiling. "That would be sweet, wouldn't it," she said softly, before her shoulders slumped a bit. "I wish I had someone like that in my life."
Valka bustled over to the pile of firewood in the corner, picking up a log and hauling it back to the fire. "Don' worry, dearie," she said comfortingly. "You'll always find someone if you look. I found Stoick, even though I wasn' the most popular Viking at the time."
As she pushed the log onto the charred embers in the firepit, cinders and smoke puffed up. Both girls coughed.
"Where's Dawny?" Valka asked next, sitting down beside Blizzard and beginning to untie her long, braided hair.
"Out in the forest. She's – we're – not really used to being around people so constantly," the blood-redhead said. "Before you came we were back by the river again, washing. I probably looked a mess when I first came . . ." she mumbled sheepishly.
The green-eyed woman laughed. "Well, you look fine now," she said lightly, before eyeing Blizzard's simple clothing. If she thought about it, the outfit really didn't look comfortable, as it was at least four sizes too big. An idea popped into her head.
When she asked her question, however, Blizzard looked at her as if it was the strangest idea in the world.
"What?" Valka asked, chuckling at her expression. "Your clothes are too big. Would you like to borrow some of mine?"
~˜~ §~˜~
She would scream, knowing it was pointless to do anything else.
She would shriek and lash out and wail and cry. It would laugh and mock and sneer and take control of what it shouldn't be able to claim. How long had it been there? How many times had it attacked her mind like this?
She didn't know it, but he was watching. He would shout and run and widen his eyes as he tried to run towards them – to help her, help her, help her–!
He never made it.
She always lost the struggle.
And when they both woke up, they would forget everything.
That was how It won.
~˜~ § ~˜~
