AN REGARDING UPDATES,, PLEASE READ.
AN: Hello readers, i'm sorry for the delay. My latest blood exam showed up some anomalies back in September and i have been going to docs ever since to find out what it is causing this. Just so you guys know i have my ninth visit to the docs scheduled for next Tuesday. This has taken a huge tool on my mood and, consequently, on my writing. It's been a week since i last wrote and the last few stretches that i wrote were far subpar my normal quality. I'll try to continue writing and updating while i try to find out what is wrong with me, but, please, if you guys have anything to say, PM me or leave a review. Each and every word from you all would greatly help me go through this tough phase.
ANII: For those that don't read 'How to Let It Go', I decided to leave my review responses written before the chapter begins. It is a trick my friend advised me to do, and i think it'll make things easier, since there are probably questions that many of you want to know the answer. So... here it is from last chapter.
ivenganev1992: Heather will eventually find out about Toothless, but how she will remains a surprise. I think there will be a chapter or two specifically about how she discovers our beloved Night Fury.
Guest(leave a username so i can properly address you here):Astrid may not yet have romantic feelings for him, but she feels something about him, considering they once were childhood friends. And i'm really happy to hear that I managed to surprise you. It delights a writer to know that he managed to stir feelings on his readers.
T-Biggz: I think a chapter per month would be too much, unless i posted really long chapters. Maybe a chapter per week is a hard schedule to keep up, but if i move to a chapter each 10 days or a chapter per two weeks they'll probably be a bit longer as a way to compensate. I still need to decide this, and my sickness isn't really making it easy to do so. I noticed the copied paragraph and already deleted it, so thanks for the advice. Also i feel very happy to see such interest in Heather. I know her character has mixed feelings on the HTTYD community, and making her a protagonist of my story was not an easy decision. Still i'm very happy to see how people are liking her appearance on my story. :)
Nick Tanico: I'll be honest, i'm happy to see that you seem torn about who i'll pair Hiccup with. I want to keep romance outside of my focus as long as possible, since it is not the focus of this fic. I will, however, have a Hiccup-Heather fic, which will be either this or Searching for Echoes of the Past. I'm also happy to see that you liked Toothless' POV. I want to give a chance to see the world through the dragons eyes, and that will happen sometimes through Toothless.
Fragments of Imagination: Indeed, their bonding is one of the highlights of the movie. I wanted to show on last chapter a deeper take on how this bonding changes their lives, and how Hiccup feels about it. I believe the movies shows this flawlessly, but to transcribe to words was a hard task. I hope you enjoy this chapter :)
And, without further ado, the next chapter...
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Hiccup smiled a genuine smile, which was a rare sight. Even when he was with Heather and Gobber, those were rare. The last time he remembered being that happy was when he made his first axe, and the smile was short lived once he found out that Astrid would be the one to have it.
Turns out that her mother's axe was too worn out for Astrid's style of training, so her mother had asked Gobber to make a new one, and he delegated the task to Hiccup, as a way to test his apprentice. And when Hiccup found out Astrid would have it he had asked Gobber to keep secrecy of his achievement, fearing she wouldn't use his "magnificent axe", as Gobber said, because he forged it.
He sighed. Little this mattered, now that she knew he made it. A part of him felt relieved she didn't throw it out, thus ending any fear of rejection, but another felt hurt, hurt that she didn't even thank him for it, like when she did with Gobber.
He scolded himself mentally, for he knew this was neither the moment to dwell into such conflicting memories, nor it was the time to anguish himself in his sea of emotions. He should feel happy and free like he didn't feel for a long time, and so he did. The dragon must have felt his wave of emotions, because the Night Fury had slightly nudged his hand, which was still in his snout.
He slowly brought his other hand up while being a little hesitant, as he feared he might be pushing too far the dragon. But when said one didn't complain, he finally brought his free hand to rest at the chin of his draconic friend. He looked deep at those yellow-green eyes. "Thank you" was all he said, and it was all that the dragon needed to hear to understand what Hiccup meant.
I was a bit surprised when I felt a wave of different emotions irradiate from the hatchling that was still touching my snout. For a second I thought that this human was disappointed at me, but the idea was soon thrown out when I noticed the human raise his other arm to touch me at probably my chin.
I couldn't help but feel a bit happy when the wave of emotions washed away from this little one, only to be replaced by a feeling of happiness. When I heard Hiccup speak those two words I felt gratified as I didn't for a long time, and from this moment I sworn to myself that I'd always be there for this human. This human that freed me, fed me and trusted me, even with some misunderstanding among the way.
Having too much to think and reflect, the dragon removed his face from his hands, and looked briefly at Hiccup. He narrowed his eyes a little and huffed, as if making sure that Hiccup understood he wasn't going so, before he retreated to the other side of the cove to rest.
Hiccup only returned the dragon's glance, amusedly understanding what he meant. He looked at the dragon again, who was now lying at the exact spot he had been, and then glanced at the sky. Seeing that night was coming, Hiccup slowly retreated from the cove, heading toward the village.
All the way back to the village he reflected at his day, from reaching the cove to passing out, to finding himself saved again by the same dragon that knocked him out, to dancing around his drawing, to earning his trust. He was amused at the turn of events. He had entered this very cove as an enemy of the dragon and left it as his friend. It was rather ironic to think that his first friend in years was the most wanted enemy of his tribe.
Hiccup slowly returned to his village not only because to reflecting at the events of his day but also, due to his happiness, he took his time coming back to it, looking around the forest he knew so well, and passing care-freely when not reflecting. He couldn't even remember when he had been this carefree before. 'Perhaps when I was younger, and used to play with Astrid at the forest all sorts of games.' He thought.
He was so zoned out that he ended up bumping into Gobber when he reached the village. Due to his size, he ended up falling to the ground, while also snapping back to reality. He looked at whom he bumped into and spoke, a little ashamed of his distracted state: "Oh, sorry Gobber. I wasn't looking where I was going to" he apologized.
His mentor just shook his head, dismissing the apology and offered him his hand (the fleshy one) to help him stand up. "Ah, don't yeh worry. I was looking for yeh anyway. We'll have a meeting at the old catapult." He said as he lifted Hiccup from the ground.
Hiccup didn't meet his mentor excitement as 'we' meant that he would need to join the teens, which, to be honest, wasn't something he was looking for. Still, that wasn't enough to phase out his happiness. "Sure Gobber, I'll be there" he assured his mentor, as said one was waiting for an answer. Satisfied with it, the burly Viking headed out to the Hall, while Hiccup briefly went to the forge so he could put away his journal.
He was careful with these ever since he had been near Snotlout and his cousin picked one of his journals and torn it apart, many years ago. Thankfully he was still Astrid's friend back then, whom made sure to teach his cousin a lesson. But since they no longer were friends, he wouldn't risk having those torn again because 'drawing is un-Viking' as his bully said. It was hypocritical to think that, since drawings were inside the Book of Dragons and everyone was glad they had those, not to mention the maps Stoick used to hunt the Nest.
When he reached the catapult, he noticed that all teens were there, sitting in benches, Heather included. This was unusual, since she was not one to hang out with them, but then again, maybe Gobber called her as well. Said one was already there, his prosthesis being a stick with a roasted chicken impaled on it.
When the teens saw him arrive, some of them groaned, while Heather pat a vacant seat at her side, indicating for him to sit. Hiccup smiled at the action, even though he was still upset that she had told Astrid one of his safeguarded secrets she had sworn to never tell. Because of that, he thought it was better to hold to himself his friendship with Toothless (he decided that would be the dragon's name, since it kind of got stuck in his head whenever he thought of the dragon).
Gobber begun telling his war stories once everyone started roasting some food at the small fire in front of them. Hiccup and Heather had a fish in their sticks, while Gobber and some of the other teens had some chicken. He only picked some of what Gobber was speaking, as his mind was often returning to the elusive 'unholy offspring of lighting and death itself' that he had befriended earlier.
Besides, being his apprentice meant he knew practically every story Gobber had, including the Boneknapper's, which was another reason to why he wasn't paying attention to his mentor's storytelling at the moment.
"…and with one twist, the Nightmare bit my hand off and swallowed it whole." He spoke dramatically. This didn't do much to bring Hiccup's attentions, since he heard almost all of those stories during his apprenticeship. "His face mocked me, as if he was saying it was absolutely delicious." He added, making the teens' eyes lit in interest
"And he must have passed the word because it wasn't even a month before another Nightmare took my leg. I'm telling yeh, I'm sure these two were cousins." he finished, pointing to his peg-leg. All the teens were awed at the story, while Heather has holding her mouth shut with her hand, as if she was about to throw up.
Once she felt easy enough, she turned to speak to Hiccup, feeling a bit curious about his unusual silence. "Hiccup..? What's on your mind? You're unusually silent" she whispered, mindful of not attracting the others' attention.
I snapped out of my thoughts (again) by the sound of her voice. Though I was still upset with her, it would be rude of me to just ignore her. "Oh, it's nothing. It's that I already heard all of these stories, tons of times when we were at the forge." I noticed her slightly greened face and added:"And you? You look like you're a little uneasy hearing it." I pointed out, feeling slightly worried. It was not usual of Heather being sick, after all she was a healer (in training), and healers are almost never sick.
I gave her a small comforting smile and pat her hand, which was rested on her knee while the other was holding the fish-in-the-stick, as I had seen Gobber's situation when he lost his arm. A Nightmare was about to light up the forge when he singled it out. Although he lost his arm, he had injured the Nightmare enough that dad was able to finish it off, before begin brought to the healer.
"Wasn't it weird to think of your hand as inside of a dragon? Like, if your mind was still in control of it, you could have killed the dragon from the inside by crushing its heart or something like that… it would have certainly surprised the beast being crushed inside." Fishlegs inquired curiously.
While some met him with blank stares, Heather just shook her head before speaking; "Don't be ridiculous, we all know that once a part of your body is removed you no longer control it. Don't ask me why." She finished, as she saw that Fish was about to say or ask something.
"I'm so angry right now, I swear by Odin" Snotlout said, glaring at his chicken as if it was his archenemy. Apparently he was still mad at his failure at the ring a week ago. "I'll avenge your beautiful hand and your beautiful foot by chopping off every dragon's legs I find… With my face" he finished, pointing to his face proudly.
Ruffnut snorted to his statement, while her brother added: "It won't be hard, you're ugly enough to kill a Nightmare on its tracks if the dragon as much as glance to your face" he finished laughing, and soon banged his helmet with his sister's as she also started laughing at what her brother said.
Snotlout, of course, was mad at having his 'beauty' offended, so he punched Tuff at his guts, which was not a good idea since he had food on his mouth. The punch made him spit out the food he was chewing, and I was aware enough to luckily avoid some chewed chicken at my face. It was disgusting enough to eat a half-digested, dragon saliva-coated cod today; having chewed chicken on my face was definitely not part of my plans.
Before they could throw themselves at an all brawling, Gobber pointed out while licking his fingers. Apparently the chicken was too delicious for him to not eat his fingers. "Nah ah ah, if yeh go for these, the dragon can still kill you. It's the wings and tail you wanna go. If it can't fly, it can't get away" then, when everyone was paying attention to him, he approached the fire with a serious expression: "a downed dragon is a dead dragon, always remember that. It saved my life twice."
We knew he was talking about the fights that cost his arm and his leg, but this wasn't what I paid attention to. 'A downed dragon is a dead dragon' I repeated in my mind, suddenly dawning in my head the situation that Toothless was. I severed his tailfin, so he couldn't fly away from the Cove if he wanted to. And it would just be a matter of time before he was found by someone wandering in the forest. 'Time to put in test Gobber's title for me' he thought, determined to help his friend.
Realization settled, he immediately stood and left for the forge, while his barely eaten fish was left hanging in his place. Heather took a couple of seconds to realize that her friend had suddenly vanished into thin air, and finished her fish before heading out to find out where the young boy had gone.
Astrid watched curiously Hiccup's reaction to what Gobber said, and stood to look down at the catwalk of the catapult, but unlike the charcoal-haired girl, she didn't follow him. Only one thing remained at her head: 'what are you up to this time Hiccup?' she knew that look Hiccup's face had this moment…
Back when they were friends, she remembered, he would always have this look when he had some crazy ideas he would soon test out at the forge; ideas that, as far as she had seen, always got him, and whoever was with him, into trouble.
Though she recalled that it was also him that made her axe after she nearly destroyed her mother's while training in the woods, she still felt that it was too dangerous this look. Shaking her head, she sat, but for the rest of the meeting, she didn't eat her chicken; she only looked thoughtfully at it. Neither did she sleep much that night, as she passed it thinking what he would have done.
Hiccup ran inside the forge, heading directly to his room. As Gobber never came inside due to the small frame of the door, and was never used, he proclaimed as his after the end of his apprenticeship. Now it was filled with notes and drawings he did whenever an idea to help him kill dragons came across his mind. But this time was different. This time, he would not create something to kill a dragon. He would create something to help one.
As soon as he took blank papers and charcoal pencils to write his ideas, a knock came on the wood frame. He was relieved that he hadn't started writing anything, or whoever it might be would get suspicious if laid eyes on his idea. "Who is it?" he asked with a slightly nervous tone, while doing his best to hide his annoyance and panic from his voice and posture. Luckily, he managed to do so. "Hiccup? It's me." Answered the charcoal-haired girl while she stepped inside.
Since she never came to his room, more because of lack of need than anything else, she had never seen his drawings. And because of this she was awed at the sight of numerous drawings and notes hanging all over the place, both in his desk and walls. She stood still, mouth wide open, until Hiccup spoke "Yes? Do you need something?" he asked, putting her out of her trance.
She closed her mouth, a faint blush coming at her cheeks due to her silly posture a second ago, and took a few seconds before speaking: "You arrived late; you barely ate, and left in a hurry. Did something happen?" she said in her usual motherly tone, her eyebrows furrowed in the usual concern she showed regarding him.
Though grateful that he had someone to look after him, he couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed, since he didn't get over at what she did. He shook his head, a small smile on his lips, before speaking: "I'm fine. I wasn't so hungry." He said, making her remember that he rarely ate much, since his stomach wasn't as hug as his father's or Gobber's.
"As of why I left in a hurry, I had an idea and left my journal here. So I came quickly to write it so I won't forget it." He spoke, hiding the fact that his idea was to make a prosthetic tail for a downed dragon. He saw she was about to speak, probably about how his ideas always got him in sticky situations, and quickly added: "Don't worry; it's some sort of armor to protect me during Dragon Training my idea."
Truth be told, he had planned doing something like a set of leather armor, since his frame wouldn't support a metal one. He never told her that, since that thought only came at his first day of Dragon Training. But he found this was a good opportunity to do that, since it would both easy her about the Training, and cover his actual idea. Seeing her visibly easy up assured him that he was right.
"Ok then… just don't spend all night at the forge ok?" He gave her a nod while waiting for her to leave so he could to begin writing his idea down. Satisfied with his answer, she left the forge, but not before giving a goodnight to which he replied. Hiccup peeked out of his room to see if she was still around, and when he noticed she wasn't he all but melted into his chair in relief.
He felt horrible for hiding things from her, once again. Though he didn't speak to her about her giving away his secrets, she never lied to him, as far as he knows, or remembers, and never hid something from him either. The only thing he could remember was the axe situation.
Because of that, a sour taste was left in his mouth, one that only vanished after hours spent working on what would be his friend's tailfin. The sound of metal banging echoed through the forge as the village went to sleep, and the only light seen on Berk was the faint illumination of the bright flames of the forge inside the Blacksmith.
As the hours passed by, Hiccup could see a metal skeleton of a tailfin slowly being formed. Much of the metal he used was scraps from broken shields lying around in a pile, as they had no chance of being repaired. The desk was filled with paper and notes written with measurements as accurate as possible from the real Night Fury's tailfin.
After he finished sewing the leather onto the metal skeleton he looked at his work, before clapping shut the tailfin to hide it, and then went to make some leather braces, so he would have a cover in case Heather wanted to see his work. He knew well how to sew and make leather armor, so he quickly finished them after hardening the leather.
While doing those, he couldn't stop the return of that sour taste in his mouth, and the uneasiness he felt for partially lying to her. Only when he finished all his work Hiccup closed the forge and went to his home. It was his lucky day indeed, as, at least, she wouldn't find out he spent all his night at the forge. He promised himself he would redeem himself to her after speaking about her broken promise and that was enough to easy his mind so he could sleep.
The next day…
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AN: I think some might consider this as a filler chapter, though that wouldn't be the case. I write my stories as a single work rather than by chapters, so i don't think this would happen to me. Still if anyone would happily explain to me how exactly a filler chapter is I'd happily hear, so i can know if it is a filler or not.
And, as always, feel free to leave a review or PM me. I'll always be grateful for it, and even more these days.
Until next time
