Part One - #11 Trepidation


On the inside, Toothless' happiness and excitement levels were ludicrous. He didn't know why, but the fact that Ace was going to live on Berq made him feel insanely overjoyed. Whenever she smiled, it made him want to smile. Whenever she was happy, it made him happy too. All he wanted to do was spend time with her and have her in his company; all he wanted was to feel that feeling that he got whenever she was with him. He didn't know why, but the feeling he got when they were together made Toothless feel as if he were in pure bliss. But just what was that feeling? That was a question Toothless didn't know the answer to and he didn't care. So long as that feeling was there, he would be forever satisfied.

Ace, who sat across from him, had similar thoughts circling through her mind. Unlike the content male before her, she was much less content leaving it without an answer.

Why was she so insanely happy that she could spend more time with Toothless? Why did she get the ridiculous urge to smile whenever he did? Why did she feel happy when he was happy? Why did she constantly want to spend time with him, why did just being with him stimulate such a happy and blissful feeling? Unlike Toothless, she wanted to know the answers. But as hard as she tried she could not figure out just what it was. Which was why she had such a conflicted expression on her face as the two made their way to the beach, where an ecstatically impatient Praze was waiting for them.

"What took you two so long?" the young dragon asked them, obviously impatient. Toothless and Ace could only chuckle at that.

"Like normal dragons, we took the time to walk instead of rushing ahead for no reason," Toothless replied and Praze poked his tongue out at him.

"Whatever, we're at the cave now so let's go."

The two older dragons just rolled their eyes at the comment as the three of them made their way into the cave. They noticed that beside them ran a small stream that followed the side of the cave and down into the sea.

Being in need of releasing all his youthful energy, Praze had challenged them to try and find the source of the water. Despite his previous anxiety, Praze seemed to have overcome his fear about the cave. He seemed to be ever-adapting, despite being silent most of the time. Either way, no sense of anxiety had befallen Praze for the entirety of the hours the three of them occupied the cave, exhausting their energy to the point where they all laid in the entrance of the cave in an attempt to restore some of it.

"Hey, would you look at that?" Ace asked suddenly and Toothless and Praze's eyes followed hers to the stream, where an eel laid dead on the bank of it. "Must've died somehow..." she trailed off, walking over to it.

"Woah, be careful," Toothless said, backing up as he did, "eels are poisonous."

Ace and Praze just looked at him funny before they burst out laughing and Toothless realised his mistake.

"They're not poisonous, are they..." he muttered as they both continued to laugh.

"Ha, nope," Praze laughed and Toothless could only shrug his shoulders.

"Oh well, it still doesn't make them any less creepy," Toothless muttered, earning himself a look from Ace. "What?" he questioned.

"You wouldn't happen to be scared of eels, Toothless?" she asked and his eyes widened as he momentarily stood still. Then he relaxed.

"No," he replied quickly.

"Oh really? Are you sure?" she asked, a smirk appearing on her face as a cold sweat come upon Toothless. Stay calm, it's not as if she's going to...but his thoughts trailed off, eyes widening, as she walked over to the eel.

"O-Okay keep that thing away from me!" Toothless exclaimed, backing up as his voice broke. Unfortunately, Toothless did have an illogical fear of eels and was literally terrified as she began to move towards him, the eel in her mouth.

"What's wrong Toothless?" she asked with a grin on her face as she pounced at him, making him nearly trip over his own tail as he frantically scrambled to get away from her.

"N-NO! Stay away!" he hissed as he zipped around the cave, the cave that was resounding with Praze's laughter as he watched the chase.

"Come one Toothless, stop being such a hatchling!" Ace jested as she continued to chase Toothless before seeing him jump into an area that made her eyes narrow with determination. Then with one quick movement, she cornered him. Toothless' eyes widened as he realised that he was trapped and he quickly looked around for a way to escape...but there weren't any.

"Stay away!" he hissed again, his heart racing as she neared him.

"Not until you touch it," she commented with a smirk as she moved closer and almost dropped the fish with laughter when he pressed himself into the wall as much as he could to get away from it. "Come on Toothless, it's just an eel."

"No...please," Toothless begged and pleaded as he slipped to the ground, Ace's triumphant grin staring down on him.

"Just touch it..." she began and Toothless shuddered beneath her, "...or I'll drop it on you."

"You w-wouldn't..." Toothless trailed off as his eyes widened.

"I would," she contradicted evilly. "You have until the count of three. One."

"A-Ace, come on n-now, stop fooling around!"

"Two..."

"Pl..Please..."

"One."

There was some serene silence before Toothless' surprise left him and a scream rang throughout the cave when he realised that the slimy and disgusting eel was now on him.

"GET IT OFF!" Toothless yelled as Ace stood back, before she was down and out, laughing all the breath out of her. He writhed around in an attempt to get the eel off him as the two spectating laughed to their hearts content, until he grabbed the thing and completely launched it across the room. Then after the few moments it took for him to calm down he managed to see the humor in it all and just sighed.

"Honestly, Ace," he began, causing the laughing female to wipe the tears away and listen, "you're just the most meanest of all the dragons I know. No joke." She just seemed to smile even more.

"You're just the most boring of all the dragons I know," she retorted. "And the look on your face was completely worth it, you were completely scared out of your mind!" she finished with another loud laugh before calming herself down again. Toothless sat there with a flat expression. Unamused.

"Can we please not speak of this to anyone?" he asked with a sigh. "You can't let the dragons on Berq know I'm...not fond of eels."

"And why is that?" Praze asked innocently, a smirk on his face.

"Because it wouldn't do any good as they're also all scared of eels! There's literally no reason for you to tell them," Toothless replied, causing confusion to fall upon the other two's faces.

"But...why did you ask in such a way that suggested otherwise?" Ace asked him and he smiled slightly.

"Because I was messing with you," he replied simply. Ace's eye's narrowed.

"You suck."

"You suck."

"You both suck...let's leave it at that," Praze interrupted the two bickering older dragons as the two said bickering older dragons glared at him. "It's already past sunset you know, we should be getting some sleep."

"Stay out of this, otherwise I'll pin you again," Toothless stated simply. That seemed to shut the younger dragon up, despite him having a point. "But you're right, it is getting quite late. What say we camp here for the night?"

"Sure," was the response from the other two dragons and Toothless smiled.

"Alright. Either of you want anything to eat first?" he asked and they both shook their heads. "Well, goodnight then," he added and they smiled.

"Night Toothless," Ace replied.

"G'night," Praze followed. "See you both in the morning, maybe then we can continue to try and find that water source."

Even after all their searching, all that Toothless, Praze and Ace found was a small stream that lead from one of the cave walls. It was a big mystery to them, and they all secretly hoped that the cave led all the way up through the mountain where they also youth fully hoped there to be the water source.

"Yeah will do," Toothless replied, giving him a smile. "But you can catch us breakfast tomorrow. Deal?"

"Sure thing," Praze replied and with that, he slowly curled into a spot on the ground. Toothless soon followed suit, but not before he noticed that Ace was no longer with them. He looked around and noticed that her scent lingered around the front of the cave.

Did she go outside?

Toothless decided to investigate and he slowly got up, being careful not to alert Praze. Though, it seemed his cautiousness was wasted as the young male seemed to already be in a state of deep sleep. Toothless chuckled to himself as he watched Praze's still form slowly move up and down as he breathed steadily. He must've tired himself out with all the running around he did in the cave Toothless thought.

Within a few seconds Toothless was outside and as he looked to the night sky, he gasped. For in the blackness above him, there was light. The light of thousands of stars, gleaming incandescently, shining out through constellation and constellation of vibrant blues and purples. However in Toothless' opinion, what stood before him was every bit as mesmerizing as the beautiful and transfixing galaxies above him.

"Ace, what are you doing out here?" he called out, his voice soft. Her amethyst eyes trained on him as a smile spread on her face.

"I'm just admiring the stars and constellations," she replied, matching his own soft voice before turning her head back to the sky. "Aren't they beautiful?"

But Toothless' eyes weren't to the sky. "Yeah," he sighed an infatuated sigh before eventually taking his eyes off the dragoness. "The vibrant colours... are breathtaking. I often wonder about the complexity and beauty of the night sky...about how intricate and pensive it is."

Ace smiled as she turned to him. "I agree...it's like the sky beckons to hold me in a totalitarian embrace. It's just wondrous and alluring and...when I was alone...it was my only comfort."

Toothless looked upon her with sad eyes, feeling for her lonely life once more. "And what a comfort it must have been," he said, a smile creeping in the corner of his mouth.

"Indeed," she replied, a smile of her own forming. She then shifted on the sand as she turned her body to face him and said, "I'm going to sleep out here tonight, so don't worry about me," before she cracked her neck and back and curled up onto the sand, her gaze constant upon the night sky. Her equilibrium was, for the most part, satiated by both the beauty of the stars and the presence of the dragon beside her and after a few more moments of gazing, she finally let her eyelids droop and rested her head on her paws.

Silence ensued. That is, until the sound of compacting sand could be heard as it grew nearer to her. Confused, Ace lifted her head and opened her eyes just as she felt a pressure on her back and she turned to see Toothless lying down next to her. He turned and looked at her and saw her puzzled expression.

"What?" he asked casually as he made himself more comfortable. "It's gonna be a windy night tonight. You'll freeze to death otherwise, so I'll sleep out here with you."

Ace's face at that moment would have heated at their closeness had she not already been warmed by Toothless' care and consideration for her, so she just sighed and laid her head back on her paws. "Thanks," she whispered to him and he just smiled as he curled up and laid his own head against his own paws, letting sleep's embrace take hold of him.

Ace felt...safe. Comforted. Cared for. Loved. Her face heated at a sudden realisation. That feeling she got, that wonderful blissful feeling, was...love. She loved him. It all makes sense now! she thought, whilst at the same time remembering who she was leaning up against. She smiled. She was exuberant with her newfound divergent; he cared for her and protected her, so she was going to care for him and protect him. I love you, Toothless she thought to herself with a wide smile.

With those thoughts circling her mind, she slowly drifted off to have many happy dreams she wouldn't recall the next morning. Perhaps that was for the best, however.


A/N

Ok, if you think this story is good could you pleeeeease let my know by posting a review? If you truly enjoy reading, let me know! I will personally answer any questions and say thank you at the end of the next chapter for EVERYONE that reviews! Have fun ;) and have a good one!

P.S if everyone that has followed the story leaves a review, I would dedicate all of my free time towards writing the story. And even if we don't get everyone, the more we get will determine how fast and how motivated I'll be (because I'll know how many of you want me to write.) It isn't like I need reviews, heavens no, I would just really like to have some feedback from you! :)