A/N: AHHHH, guys I'm so sorry! It's been so long! I've been swamped with work and travels and midterms and roommate troubles, and just life in general. But I am back, and I owe BigReader23 a big thanks for sending me a private message asking me to update. :) I always appreciate such encouragement. So, as always, please review, and if you care to message me, please don't hesistate to write! It's always welcome. and now, ON WITH THE STORY AHHHHHHH!
Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD
Chapter Fourteen: Spreading Their Wings
Hiccup woke up shortly before dawn the next day, despite the fact that she hadn't gotten to sleep until very late – she'd spent most of the evening just spending time with her friends in the great hall. Despite the fact that her weary body was practically crying out for more rest, she got up and stuffed an empty satchel full of the dried salmon that was stored in the little cabinet along the far wall. She knew that Toothless preferred fresh salmon to dried, but as it was, she didn't have time to get fresh fish. She needed to get to Toothless and back to the Kill Ring by the time Dragon Training started, and she loathed to put off her visit to her dragon friend any longer. She already felt horrible about not visiting him at all yesterday. So she'd just drop in, spend a little time with her companion, and head back out in time for training, and no one in Berk would be the wiser.
With that in mind, Hiccup darted out of her back door, heading straight for the forest with the bag of fish slung over her shoulder. Getting there was tricky – she had to go slower than normal because of the lack of light. She only reached Toothless' cove after the sun had peaked over the horizon, gilding the island with early-morning light.
"Toothless? Bud?" the chief's daughter called out as she skidded down the path hastily. When she got down to the bottom, Toothless was waiting for her. He managed to look both excited at her arrival and upset over the previous day's neglect all at once, and Hiccup gave an apologetic grin.
"I'm sorry – I just couldn't get away," she explained. When Toothless remained unconvinced, she held out the fish-bag in front of her. "And here's my apology-gift," she offered, smirking when all traces of displeasure disappeared from the Fury's face, replaced by a gummy grin. Laughing, Hiccup carefully removed the fishy contents, handing them to Toothless one-by-one. As she did so, she noticed how completely at ease she was with hand-feeding the most dangerous dragon known to Vikings. True, it helped that Toothless was being careful not to get her fingers, but the girl found it remarkable how completely she trusted Toothless. She knew that unconditional trust was mutual, a fact which could never fail to brighten her day.
As Toothless practically inhaled the fish, Hiccup wandered over to the crevice that she'd hidden his saddle in two days previously. She pulled it out, satisfied to see no obvious damage to it. Still, the girl lugged the leather-and-metal contraption over to the one small spot in the cove that the early-morning light managed to hit, all so she could better inspect Toothless' saddle. She had to crawl into a low patch of shrubbery to actually reach the light, but she didn't have many other options – it was just too dim in the shade to properly make sure the thin, high-tension wires were all in place.
Finally, Hiccup got settled in the patch of sunlight – after tripping twice over the low plants and once over a rock. She lifted up the large metal rings that she attatched to each side of the saddle. These were like guides for the wires, keeping them (hopefully) in order, as well as serving to protect Toothless' hide from getting scraped and cut up every time they shifted to move the tailfin.
Suddenly, a large black blur darted past her, startling her as she wheeled back out of the way. Eyes wide, Hiccup watched Toothless in bewilderment – what had made him move so suddenly? She lifted the saddle by the rings again, intending to continue her inspection, when Toothless once again whooshed by her, ruining her concentration.
What was up with him?
Sending a glare his way (a glare ignored by the dragon), Hiccup shifted the saddle in the sunlight. And that was when she saw it. As Toothless rushed by again, she noticed the little point of light he was chasing, and was utterly baffled.
The mighty Night Fury was distracted by a little dot of light? From his saddle, no less – it was the only reflective surface in the sunlight. As she pondered this, Hiccup waved the saddle-rings back and forth, watching idly as Toothless pounced after the bright spot. Soon, however, the activity became more than just an offhand movement. Hiccup focused more on moving the light just right so that it was always a little ahead of Toothless, practically taunting him.
Hey, who ever said a little good-natured teasing was a bad thing?
That in mind, it quickly became a game for Hiccup, twisting the rings and watching Toothless bound after the reflection of sunlight. It was rather adorable – the Night Fury looked nothing like the type of creature every Viking would fear.
She was so caught up in playing with Toothless that she let the time slip by – before she knew it, her little patch of sunlight had expanded greatly, as the sun rose further in the sky.
"Oh, no! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!" she gasped, jumping to her feet and dropping the saddle. Toothless, now that his entertainment had suddenly vanished, looked over his shoulder at the human, who was sprinting to the exit. "I'm sorry! We will try out the new saddle today, I promise!" she hollered back at her companion, who sat lonesome in the Cove.
Hiccup sprinted all the way back to the village, and by the time she reached the Ring, she clutched at a stitch in her side, doubled over and gasping for air. Tottering inside, she noticed all the others were prepared for another Dragon Training session.
"Where've ya been, Hiccup? We were startin' ta get worried 'bout ya!" Gobber remarked upon her arrival.
Hiccup, still clutching at her side cramp and struggling to stand straight, glanced quickly at the faces of her friends. They looked undisturbed by her tardiness – well, everyone but Astren, who she wasn't really counting at this point.
"Uh...yeah," she said, breathing finally starting to even out. "I, ah, I overslept. Sorry."
Gobber looked unconvinced (Astren looked downright suspicious) but did not question her. "Alright, go grab a weapon and a shield" he ordered, motioning at the piles of spairs stacked along the near wall. "Let's get a move on. Today, ya lot will deal with the Terrible Terror."
"Pfft," Ruffnut rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest, completely unimpressed. "Aren't those like the little wimpy dragons?"
"Yeah. I could probably kick one and it'd just explode into a million pieces," Snotlout added with his usual wit and intelligence. Hiccup, dragon-fighting items in hand, rejoined the group.
"This is going to be so easy," Tuffnut bragged. "Just watch!"
Gobber shrugged with a knowing smirk on his face, and pushed down the lever that trapped the Terror. There were three full seconds of silence, a complete lack of action.
Then a greenish blur shot right out of the now-opened cage door, latching immediately on to Tuffnut's face, emitting a high-pitched roar all the while. Tuffnut gave an equally high-pitched squeal as he was attacked, the inertia of the Terrible Terror knocking him flat on his back.
"GET IT OFF!" the male twin shrieked, writhing about as the blur settled into the distinct shape of a green Terrible Terror, clawing and snapping at the boy's face. "HELP!"
The other teens looked alarmed, unsure of how to handle the situation. They couldn't just throw an axe or other sharp weapon at the Terror – it was more likely to hit Tuff than the actual dragon. Hiccup, however, lifted her shield, angling it so that it caught the light and reflected right by the enraged Terror. As soon as she caught the Terror's attention, Hiccup started moving towards it, and consequently moving the point of light away from Tuffnut, towards the Terror's cage. The little dragon followed the light, abandoning it's previous prey completely. Within moments, she managed to trick the little dragon back into it's cage, quickly tossing aside her shield and lunging for the lever that would lock the Terror's cage. Once it was snapped into place, she dusted her hands off in satisfaction, and looked over her shoulder at her friends. Ruffnut and Fishlegs were actually clapping in delight, and Snotlout actually gave her a 'thumbs up'. Tuffnut was still struggling to his feet, a hand over his very red nose.
Hiccup once again was caught in the wave of enthusiasm from her friends. As always, they asked her questions: how did she scare the Terror back in? Luckily, the questions were easily evaded, and then dropped. After all, Vikings didn't care much how a thing was done; only that is was done.
Astren looked on in blind hatred as Hiccup managed to defeat the Terrible Terror. How did she do it? With one step, she had the Terror skittering away, and as she advanced more, the little dragon darted off to it's cage, not even putting up a fight! Was the thing intimidated by her? Even though the Terror was small, there was no way Hiccup could scare anything! The girl was a pathetic slip of a Viking, short and scrawny and useless bumbler. Until a few days ago, she couldn't do anything right! Plus, the Terror clearly hadn't feared Tuffnut, who presented a much more menacing image than Hiccup.
This just wasn't right. Something had to be up. It was just inconceivable that Hiccup the Useless, out of the blue, would best everyone in dragon training – including Astren, the best of the recruits!
"Wow. Even you at your best got nuthin' on her," Tuffnut drawled, straightening his helmet. Astren treated the other boy to his harshest glare. That was it. He had to go somewhere he could scream and yell and throw things.
Fifteen minutes later, Astren was in the middle of a screaming-and-yelling-and-throwing-things fit. With a wordless shout, he hurled his double-headed axe at one of the many trees in this little patch of forest. He'd retreated to the forest – far enough in to be out of eye- and ear-shot, but not so far that he got lost (he'd never taken much interest in exploring the forest). It embedded itself in the solid trunk of a pine. Grunting in satisfaction, Astren rushed to the trunk, and with another cry yanked the axe free again. He repeated this process several more times before adding some somersaults and flips to the equation. The kinetic energy and momentum helped channel his anger, and he only felt more satisfied as his muscled burned more and more. Overall it was a very cathartic experience.
Feeling ambitious, Astren did a front flip with the axe still in hand. He almost didn't make it, nearly face-planting in the dirt, but somehow he managed to land on his feet. Using the inertia he'd built up, Astren hurled the axe at a fir as he dug his heels in to the turf to skid to a stop. His vision finally settled (tumbling about a forest in a blind rage really didn't allow for very accurate eyesight. He only hit the tree trunks occasionally, after all). Standing up straight, the first thing he noticed was that he actually managed to hit a tree two times in a row. That was pretty good. Only after taking stock of his aim did he noticed the figure of Hiccup, frozen two feet from where his axe was lodged in the fir.
She looked as if she had stopped mid-stride, feet splayed. Her green eyes were wide as she stared at Astren, looking somewhere between guilty and startled. More guilty than startled, really, and that was suspicious. What was she hiding? Perhaps he should have been relieved that he hadn't accidentally taken her head off – after all, he probably had come close with that last throw, and it was doubtful that killing Hiccup would go over well in the village, now that she was popular with everyone. As it was, all Astren could focus on was the guilty expression on the girl's face – like she had been caught doing something she shouldn't. That, more than anything, made him certain she was up to something.
He opened his mouth to say something, but as soon as he moved, Hiccup was off and running. She certainly knew how to run fast, at least for a short period of time. Probably from running away from all those dragons, Astren thought scornfully. He chased after her, rounding a large boulder and searching the scenery for some sign of the girl. All he saw was forest, dirt, and undergrowth.
"No!" he howled in frustration, slamming his fist into the side of a tree trunk. She'd gotten away. This couldn't keep going on – he had to find out what she was up to. Whether it was cheating or secret training, or anything else, he needed to find out. And more importantly, he had to stop her before she showed him up and won Dragon Training altogether.
He would not let Hiccup the Useless, whiner and wimp extraordinaire, beat him.
Hiccup burst into the cove, clutching at the cramp in her side and wheezing. Within seconds, she doubled over and sank to the ground, struggling to catch her breath. She'd run a flat-out sprint ever since coming across an enraged Astren, trying to lose him if he followed her. The girl was pretty sure her peer hadn't followed her, but she dared not take a chance by slowing down. As a result, she lay on the ledge at the top of the cove, gasping for air.
"I...really need...to get in shape," she mumbled to herself in between gulps of air. With one shaking hand, she wiped beads of sweat off her forehead. Her body wasn't used to running so far so fast. Heck, it wasn't used to running far, period. The only physical thing she was good at was sprinting – short, fast bursts. All due to the practice she had running from dragons, of course.
But she didn't have time to dwell on her physical abilities, or lack thereof. She had a mission – finally (finally!) try the modified saddle on Toothless, and get practice using the pedals to manipulate his prosthetic fin. Still wheezing slightly, Hiccup pushed herself to her feet – boy was she going to be sore tomorrow – and scampered down the trail. Toothless, alerted to her presence, was waiting at the bottom, looking anxious. He nudged her with his snout, and Hiccup understood his concern – her breathing still wasn't quite even.
"It's okay, bud," she assured him. "I just got a little out of breath."
Toothless looked skeptical.
"Okay, okay!" she threw her hands up in the air, surrendering. "A lot out of breath. I'm just not used to running that much."
Toothless chortled, his face arranged in a gummy grin.
"And now you laugh at me," Hiccup grumbled in mock-resentment. "Thanks a lot, you useless reptile."
When the Night Fury finally stopped laughing at her, Hiccup headed over to retrieve the saddle she'd discarded earlier that morning, Toothless trailing along beside her. She picked the worked leather contraption up, and draped it over Toothless' back. It took several minutes to actually get the metal rings around his legs, and after that was done she had to tighten all of the many straps. Finally, Hiccup checked the tensioned lines, making sure everything was still in top shape. Satisfied, she clipped the line that ran to the tail into the mechanism that met up with the high-tension saddle lines, and tested it to make sure everything worked.
With a grin on her face – everything looked great! - Hiccup shed her fur vest, exchanging it for the leather riding harness. Once that was secured, she hopped up onto the saddle, quickly clipping herself in.
"Oh, I almost forgot!" she exclaimed, hastily un-clipping herself and sliding back off. In one of the inside pockets in her fur vest, she'd stored a length of thin, strong rope, a charcoal pencil, and a ripped-out page from her journal. "I need to make a chart for working this thing. A cheat-sheet, if you will," she explained to her dragon companion, seeing his curious look. She stuffed the items in the side of her harness, just above her hip where she could easily reach them in a pinch.
"Let's do this!" she shouted, and Toothless sprang into the air, recognizing the cue. With her feet in the pedals, Hiccup found it easy to hold the tail fin open and steady – much, much easier than any of their previous attempts. They soared up and over the Cove walls, and flew over the tops of the trees. Hiccup knew where she wanted to practice – an open piece of land, right at the edge of a cliff where the wind would be strong and steady. Taking this in mind, she craned her neck, eagerly searching such a spot. As Toothless coasted, she found just such a place.
"There!" she shouted, trying to make herself heard over the roar of the wind. Toothless picked up on her intentions, and tried to turn. Unfortunately, they hadn't quite mastered turning yet. Hiccup panicked – which way did she turn the fin? – and the smooth flight turned swiftly into a wobbly one. Something in Hiccup was telling her to pivot the fin, but that couldn't be right! Surely, she had to hold it steady at this point, right?
There was no time to spend wondering, though. Toothless flapped his wings frantically, trying to keep himself and his rider aloft. However, it wasn't enough. They tumbled to the ground, Toothless struggling to land on all fours to protect Hiccup. The landing was rough – Toothless did hit the ground on all fours, effectively absorbing most of the impact. Hiccup, meanwhile, braced herself for the crash, but her arms weren't strong enough. When they landed, her whole body jerked forward, head smacking sharply into the back of Toothless' neck.
"Ow," she groaned, holding her hand to her forehead as her head throbbed. In a few minutes, Hiccup knew she would have a splitting headache. Well, at least the tethers were strong enough, and kept her from getting launched into the forest.
Slowly, still somewhat dazed from their landing, Hiccup un-clipped herself and dismounted. Walking towards the cliff, she was delighted to see an old tree stump, part of what had once been a majestic tree. Grinning, she pulled the length of rope out of her harness, winding it around the stump before she triple-knotted the rope. Then she beckoned Toothless forward, so that he was standing about twenty feet away from the stump. The rope she had was just long enough, as Hiccup secured the cord to his saddle. She sat back on her heels, giving the whole situation a once-over. She checked first the knot at the saddle, then got up to check the knot at the tree trunk. Both were secure, and Hiccup nodded her head in a sign of satisfaction.
Toothless looked at her in bemusement.
"This is going to let us practice. I can see what different tail positions do to your flight, and be don't have to worry about crashing," she explained with a smirk. Toothless just shook his head at her.
"Hey!" Hiccup protested. "Come on, it's going to work. The wind will help keep you up, and I'll learn to change the fin without crashing."
Although Toothless still seemed to find her plan amusing, he went along with it willingly enough. Once Hiccup was re-seated, he unfurled his large wings. The ever-constant wind immediately caught him, lifting the dragon and his human up into the air. With a click of the pedal, Hiccup shifted the fin, and they tilted to the left. She clicked it back into the 'neutral' position – the only one she'd truly mastered – and while the wind kept Toothless up with little effort on the dragon's part, she pulled out her charcoal pencil and the paper, and scribbled a hasty note in one corner. Perfect.
Shifting her attention back to the task at hand, Hiccup used the pedals to shift the fin again. They inclined sharply, only held back by the rope, which the human was suddenly very grateful for. She wasn't quite ready to fly off a cliff yet. Back in neutral, she scribbled another note.
This processes continued dozens of times over, and all the while Toothless was very patient. Once she had what she felt was about every useful position down, she started practicing them, making sure she mastered the footwork necessary to shift the pedals.
The sun had begun to sink in the sky, signaling late afternoon. Hiccup looked out over the ocean, against the glare of the sun, as she manipulated the pedals. They shifted left, then right, as Toothless worked his existing fin in sync with the prosthetic one. Another click, and then they rose as high up as the rope would let them, Toothless' wings filling with air. As Hiccup looked out over the cliff, she realized how very close they were to flying, really flying, without crash-landings and malfunctions and ropes. She grinned. She was close – so close! – to fulfilling her promise to Toothless.
The pedals shifted again, and they landed, Toothless closing his wings just enough that the steady wind couldn't yank them back up. He looked over his shoulder at Hiccup, who smiled and patted his neck.
"Almost there, buddy!" she spoke with cheer. She was truly amazed at how well Toothless reacted to the prosthetic. It spoke volumes to his flying skills that he was able to recognize each new position, and react accordingly – especially when she imagined the only clue he had was the change in air resistance.
Suddenly, a fierce gust of wind roared up over the cliff face, sweeping past them. Toothless' partly-furled wings were caught by the gale, and the two were roughly jerked back into the air. The force of the wind was too much, and with a loud 'twang', the rope snapped.
The gust blew Hiccup and Toothless back about fifty feet, tumbling into the trees. They did a sort of lopsided cartwheel, and then collapsed in a heap.
"Ungh," Hiccup grunted, pushing herself off the ground. She'd gotten a nice face full of dirt. Toothless lumbered to his feet not a moment later, but with surprising results. There was a sharp tug on her side as Hiccup found herself dangling from the saddle, held in place by one tether (the other one had come out of it's clip during their tumble). She reached up to undo it – and realized the hook that it was clipped to had been clamped shut, bent by something or another when they crashed.
"Oh, come on!" she grumbled, yanking furiously on the tether. She didn't have anything to un-bend the hook with here. Sighing, she tried to get the harness off over her head. She struggled with it for a few minutes, to no avail. She deigned it to stay secure, the laces that kept it on attached to the tethers so that as long as the tethers were clipped in to the saddle, the laces could not be released. She'd originally done this so that her harness wouldn't come off during flight somehow, but now she wished she had left well enough alone.
Her stomach dropped to her feet when she realized that to get un-hooked, she'd have to go to the village.
With Toothless still attached.
Oh, skies above. Was she really insane enough to take a Night Fury into Berk?
Of course she was. I don't really have any other options here, Hiccup grumbled mentally, running a hand through her wind-tousled hair. There was no way Toothless could cut the tethers – his neck wasn't long enough, the tether was too close to his body and in a place his short claws couldn't reach. She didn't dare have him try to use a fireball – more than likely, she'd get roasted, rather than the tether. Plus, she didn't want to damage the riding gear, which had taken several sleepless nights to put together.
"Well, bud, I think – UGH!" Hiccup grunted when she tried to sit down, only to be stopped short by the tether about twelve inches above the turf. She opted to instead lean against Toothless' side. "I think we have to go to the village. I can't get this thing off, and we can't stay like this. All my tools are in the smithy – we'll need to go at night to avoid getting caught."
Toothless turned his head to look at her, giving a smug 'wuff'. Hiccup caught the meaning – You think anyone will catch me?
"Oh, go deflate your head. I caught you, didn't I?" she asked, teasing good-naturedly.
Toothless snorted again, as if to say 'You're different'.
"Well, they might not be able to catch you, but they can certainly catch me," Hiccup countered, crossing her arms over her chest. Toothless still looked unimpressed with the severity of the situation, opting instead to lay down on the ground, and dragging Hiccup with him.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it. You're not concerned," she rolled her eyes, but didn't push the topic anymore, spreading her legs out in front of her as she sat, continuing to use Toothless as a backrest. "We might as well enjoy the sunset while we wait," she added, looking out over the cliff. The white light of the sun was just taking on the barest hint of yellow – they had at least an hour before the sun was over the horizon, and a while after that before it would be dark enough to venture into the village.
A/N: Ahaha! We're almost there! Did you guys enjoy that last chapter? I had fun writing it.
And about Astren. In my opinion, the Astrid/Astren character had a certain perception about Hiccup as a whiner/shmuck. However, the perception was very different from the reality of Hiccup's personality.
Notice in the movie how Astrid reacts when Hiccup stands up to her? ("Are you serious?" "Yes.") That, more than anything, indicated to me that Astrid thought of Hiccup as just a useless bumbler, and all that got torn away at once when he stood up to her. This, of course, set everything perfectly up for Astrid actually liking Hiccup.
I'm actually finding it very difficult to express myself like I want to on this matter.
Grr.
So, yeah, in that last chapter Astren is a jerk. But remember, it's because he has a false perception about Hiccup.
And, okay, confession time again: I'm not really a fan of the Astrid/Astren character. I find it to be mean and arrogant and irritating at times. Regardless, I do think I will be able to protray Astren in a realistic manner. Well, okay, I hope. But I have faith in my writing skillz. XD