The Only Gift Worth Receiving
It was cold and he was comfortable curled up in his bed, but Hiccup tried, he really did, to block out the noise of Toothless jumping on the roof. He would have kept trying, but then the angered voice of his sister reached his ears, "Oh my gods, Hiccup, just go ride your dragon already, I'm trying to sleep here."
"Okay, okay, okay," he says sleepily, reaching blindly for his helmet, "I'm going."
He heard his sister let out a relieved sigh as she curled back under her covers, he could only roll his eyes as he went downstairs.
It was even more freezing cold outside the house and he could see his breath as he exhaled. He looked up to see Toothless on the roof waiting patiently, "Oh, good morning Mister Bossy."
Toothless just laughs at him, Hiccup imitating his laugh mockingly. "You always have to wake me up, and Helga mind you, so early to go riding-"
He almost went for a slide on the ice, his metal prosthetic not having any traction, but thankfully Toothless caught him. "Stupid leg," he whispered down to it, he then looks back to Toothless, "Thanks buddy, I'm okay. Yeah, we can go flying now."
Then Toothless blew his fish breath right into Hiccup's face, "Oh ew, ew, uh ew, what? Toothless."
It was not long before they were flying fast through the air, twirling and spinning, Hiccup could no longer find it in him to feel the cold wind on his face. This was just too amazing, "Alright, let's see what you've got today."
They shot back down towards the water and just when it looked like they would hit it, they leveled out, "Woohoo, yeah."
That is when they started coming up on the arched sea stack, and he knew it was time to practice his latest trick, "Okay, read?" he said to Toothless, unhooking his harness and standing up on the saddle, "Easy."
As soon as they were there, Hiccup jumped to go over the arch while Toothless flew under it. It was amazing and frightening at the same time, but he made it, landing back in the saddle and linking his foot back to the pedal. "Yes!" he shouts in victory, "Finally."
Helga was walking around with her father seeing as her brother was off with Toothless flying around. Although Helga had gotten used to flying, she was not doing it at ridiculous hours of the morning and certainly not during devastating Winter, there was only so much cold wind she could take. She was using her cane to 'see' but she could easily keep track of her father slightly ahead of her by his heavy footed gait. They must have been approaching Gobber, because she could hear him directing someone to place decorations, it was Snoggletog after all. She could hear the other teens' voices amongst all the vikings and knew they were helping with preparations as well.
Her and her father were now walking beside Gobber, and she was happy to just listen in, "Odin's beard, Gobber," her father was saying, "Vikings spending the Winter holiday with dragons, what would our father's say?"
Probably about the same thing you said when you first realised what was going on, Helga thought to herself. "They'd think we'd lost our minds," Gobber answers instead.
This response makes her father laugh before he turned to face the gathering crowd, "Well done. Well done, all of you. I never thought I'd live to see this day, peace on the Island of Berk. This will surely be the greatest holiday we've ever seen."
The crowd cheer in both agreement and excitement, for it truly was going to be an amazing holiday. No more fear of raids, no more fear of being eaten or killed by a dragon and best of all, Helga and Hiccup no longer needed to worry about what the village thought of them. Helga was smiling as she listened to the merriment, but then she heard it, the strangest sound she had ever heard. "What the…?" her father said beside her.
"Dad?" she asks nervously, "Am I hearing things or are there a lot of dragons in the sky?"
"You're not hearing things, sweetheart," is his airy reply.
"What in Thor's name?" Gobber added from beside them.
Helga jumped in her place when she heard the roar of a dragon, a Monstrous Nightmare, from a nearby roof. It was loud and she had never heard any of them roar like that before. The next thing to happen was all the dragons of Berk suddenly taking off and she could hear as the vikings were trying to call them back. There was confusion coming from all around and the noises of both dragons and confused vikings was pressing in on her, so she moved closer to her father. He seemed to realise what was happening because he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and held her close.
Then she heard Astrid from beside her, "Where's Hiccup?"
"I honestly don't know Astrid," Helga answers her softly.
"What do you say bud?" Hiccup says to Toothless, "You want to go again?"
Toothless barely got a growl of acknowledgement out before Hiccup looked to see countless oncoming dragons. "Woah," he shouts as he and Toothless weave and dodge the dragons.
At some point one of the dragons knocked off his helmet, "Oh no, my helmet," he shouts in dismay, turning to look over his shoulder, watching it fall to the ocean.
Toothless was ready to fly down and get it, but Hiccup stopped him, "Toothless, no, no, no, Toothless stop," he managed to get him to glide above the water, "We'll get it later, bud. We need to get back and find out what's going on."
So they turn and fly straight back to Berk.
When they arrived, he watched as Astrid tried to stop Stormfly from leaving. He landed Toothless and ran to her, "Astrid!"
"Hiccup, what's going in?" she asks him. "Where are they going?"
He cannot answer because the other vikings notice him and start to crowd.
"Why did they leave?" "What's happening?" "What if they never come back?"
He was being overwhelmed, "Stop…"
"Calm down!" he hears his father shout from somewhere outside the crowd, before he is pushing his way to Hiccup, Helga on his tail, holding onto his cloak, "Give him a chance to speak. Hiccup, where are all of our dragons going?"
Right, give him a chance to speak so that I can ask my own question, Hiccup thought without humour. "Dad," he says slowly, "I don't know."
He heard growling and looked over to see Toothless and Stormfly communicating, it looked like she was trying to encourage Toothless to come. Of course, he was unable to go anywhere alone so she left without him. This had Hiccup thinking.
Their father had called a meeting in the Great Hall, he needed to placate his people before they continued with the holiday. Hiccup and Helga were standing with the other teens at the back of the room.
"Snoggletog is ruined," said a viking in the crowd.
"It's not ruined," her father called to everyone, moving into the centre, "We're vikings! We've been perfectly happy celebrating without dragons for generations and there's no reason we can't do it again. Now we don't know where the dragons have gone off to, but we have to have faith that they'll be back again soon. Am I right?"
"You're right, we are vikings, we're tough," she heard Gobber shout from somewhere else in the hall and the only reason she laughed at him was because her brother described how he looked while saying that. "Most of the time."
As the adults continued their talks, Hiccup grabbed her hand to lead her out with the other teens. They were walking through the village when Ruffnut speaks up, "That was depressing."
"I know," Astrid agrees, "I was looking forward to spending the holiday with Stormfly."
She could hear Fishlegs whistling from his place on the other end of their line, and Tuffnut must have noticed too, "What are you so happy about? Don't you miss Meatlug?"
"Me?" Fishlegs asks in surprise, "Oh, yeah," starts crying, "I miss him so much."
They had all stopped when they had started their conversation, and Helga could tell by the silence that she was not the only one suspicious of that entire exchange. "Well, good night," Fishlegs hastily says before taking off in a hurry.
They must have been all staring after him, because the silence was thick in the air. Astrid suddenly gasps, cutting right into it, "I've got an idea, let's come up with a bunch of new holiday traditions, you know, to bury the sadness."
The others all sighed, but her brother ends up answering, "Actually, Astrid might be on to something."
"Easy for you to say," Tuffnut cuts in, "Your dragon can't go anywhere without you."
"Must be nice," Ruffnut adds, then Helga made out the sounds of the others leaving.
The next day, Hiccup was in the forge finishing a new project for Toothless, Helga was sitting in her stool by the wall where she had been since she had arrived almost an hour ago. They had both been quiet for a while and Hiccup might have been worried about her silence, if this was not a usual occurrence. He was reaching for a pair of tongs when Astrid came in, "Hiccup?"
"Over here, Astrid," he called to her, "Coming."
She came in carrying a shield that she was using as a tray, it had a jug of something and a few mugs on top of it. "Here, happy holidays," she says, "from me to you."
"Thank you, milady," he replies as he takes a cup from her.
He was about to take a sip when she spoke again, "What are you up to?"
"Okay, you're going to think I'm crazy, but I couldn't stop thinking about what Tuffnut said last night," he answers as he puts down the mug. "Toothless can't come and go like the other dragons and that's just not fair. I was up all night and I think I found a way to fix that."
It was at this point he picked the mug back up and finally took a sip. Oh my gods, it was..it was definitely something else. He had to try really hard not to spit it back out, he did not want to hurt her feelings, "No way," she shouted as he tried not to lose his breakfast along with the 'drink,' "You built him a new tail? So he's going to be able to fly without you."
"Mmm-hmm," he hums around the drink still in his mouth.
"Wow, what a great gift, what if he never comes back?" she asks softly, but as he started to think about it, she just scoffs, "What am I saying? Of course he will."
"Mmm-hmm," he gets out again.
"Well I'm going to spread some more holiday cheer," she says as she starts making her way out of the forge. "You're amazing."
He waits until she is way out of sight before he finally spits up the liquids he could not believe he had been able to hold in his mouth for so long. He wiped his mouth in displeasure before looking over at where Helga had been sitting quietly the whole time Astrid was here, "You are so lucky she didn't even notice you."
"That was my intention, I could smell that stuff the second she walked in, I did not want her offering me any," she answers, hiding a snicker behind a fist.
"Gee, thanks for the heads up," he says dryly.
"Too much fun to pass up," she shrugs.
He just rolls his eyes before turning to grab the new tail for Toothless.
When he and Helga got to the house, Toothless was jumping on the roof thinking he was still in bed, "Toothless," he called up to him, making said dragon glide down to be beside him. "I've got something for you."
Toothless started to sniff it, "What do you think of that? Yeah."
He walked around behind Toothless, but he kept turning around, not letting him near his tail, "Would you just settle down, Toothless. Come on, bud, let me get this on you."
Eventually he was able to grab his tail and put on his new prosthetic fin, "Yeah, you are going to love this. Okay."
He let go of his tail and let Toothless play around with it. He looked like he was going to knock it off, "Toothless stop, wait wait wait," but he did not need to say more, because he opened his tail and froze, realising what was going on. "Ah, there you go, see? Got it?"
Toothless turned to face him and they stared for a while, Hiccup went to touch him, "Toothless," but then the dragon was shooting into the air.
Hiccup watched him fly off into the distance and before long, he was out of sight. "He'll be back, Hiccup," he heard Helga say as she walked closer to him.
"Yeah, I…I know," he said, but he knew he was not in the least bit convincing.
Helga lay awake, she could hear her brother shuffling and sighing from his bed. He was most likely thinking about his missing dragon, he was worried he may never return. It was hard for her to sleep while listening to his moping behaviour despite being across the room. When the house started shaking, she heard him sit up, he was probably thinking it was Toothless. "Toothless," he called excitedly.
Yep, he did think it was Toothless, "Wait, Hiccup," she called after him, sitting up quickly, but he was already long gone.
She knew it was not Toothless, the sound was not right and neither was the pattern of the thumping. She stood and followed her brother, but at a more sedate pace. When she finally left the house, she could hear her brother and father talking, "…I was looking for your helmet," their father was saying.
"My helmet?" her brother asks hesitantly, and she remembered that he had lost it the other day when the dragons had flown off.
"Odin needs a place to put your goodies," their father explained as he made his way down a ladder, he must have been on the roof, "I've given Helga a decorative bowl since she doesn't have a helmet, but you can use yours."
"Ah, right, I'll get on that," Hiccup replies half-heartedly, not willing to tell their father he had lost it.
He started to move and she felt him grab her hand, no doubt to lead her to the Hall for food. They did not get far before their father called out, "Hold on," and walked towards them, "Hold on. Alright, what's on your mind. Out with it."
Her brother sighed, "It's been three days dad, I…I just thought Toothless would be back by now."
"Oh, I'm sure he's with the other dragons," their father tried to comfort.
"Yeah?" Hiccup answers, "I wish I could be that sure."
"Ah listen," their father says softly, "I know what it's like to miss someone you love this time of year. But what do we do when they can't be here for the holiday? We celebrate them. And I imagine that's exactly what Toothless would want you to do. Right?"
"You're right," Hiccup admits, making Helga smile.
"Good," their father says before hitting the arm Hiccup was not using to hold his sister's hand, "Now go get that helmet. We've had enough disappointment around here."
Later in the day found Helga simply following her brother around as he helped with preparations, something she did every Snoggletog since losing her eyes. She usually stayed a few feet behind him so as not to get in the way, but this year, with his steps now sounding very different, it was so much easier to keep track of him. He was walking near the storehouse, carrying what she knew to be a pair of oars, and she could hear someone about to walk directly where he was headed. She was about to call out to him, but he thankfully was able to stop himself from crashing into the other person, "Oh Fishlegs," he says, "you hungry?"
What kind of question was that? "There's enough fish there to feed a dragon," oh, he must have a basket of fish.
Wait, a basket of fish? Helga thought to herself, raising a brow at what that could mean. Fishlegs is silent for a moment before laughing, fake laughing, "Oh, a dragon, that's…" and then he was running off.
Hiccup started to follow behind Fishlegs, so she followed behind him, keeping track of the subtle squeak his prosthetic made so as not to lose him. She went with him as he walked to one of the buildings and stood to its side, she was not sure what he was doing until he suddenly grabbed her and pulled her to hide next to him. She tried not to make any noises of fright because she figured Fishlegs was inside this building.
She eventually heard the door open and then close, followed by the sound of what had to be Fishlegs running off. As Hiccup crept around the corner to open the door, she stood off to the side to wait for his discovery. She heard him open the door and proceed to scream. She could also hear a dragon, was that a Gronckle? She heard the sound of her brother being hit with the full force of a grown Gronckle as it carried him off, "Hiccup!"
That's when Fishlegs came back, "Meatlug!" he called. "What about presents? Hey!"
Wait what? He had been hiding his dragon in there? "Fishlegs?"
"Yes Helga?" he asks hesitantly.
"Go and get the others, and START EXPLAINING!"
He ran off like the devil was on his tail, Helga staying where she was, panting. He was not gone long, the others must have been nearby. They all came in and looked around, Fishlegs starting to talk, "I can't believe him."
"You can't believe him?" Astrid says disbelievingly, "You kidnapped your dragon!"
"Well that makes it sound so mean," Fishlegs objects.
"Mean?" Helga says, "He took off with my brother and I don't know where he is! So I can give you mean."
"Hey guys," she hears Tuffnut say slowly from where he and his sister had wondered off.
"He flew away the second he was unleashed," Astrid continues, ignoring Tuffnut.
"I'm seventy-two percent sure he wanted to stay," Fishlegs argues.
"GUYS!" Tuffnut shouts.
They look over to where they were, but Helga stayed where she was to wait for someone to explain, "Woah," Fishlegs says jovially, "Meatlug barfed up a pile of rocks."
What? That cannot be right. A pile of rocks? Wait a minute…
"You're such an idiot," Ruffnut moans, "Those aren't rocks, your dragon laid eggs."
Thankfully, Helga could at least rely on the female members of their age group, though she could not believe she just though that about Ruffnut.
"Hey wait," Astrid suddenly exclaims, "I bet that's why the dragons left! To lay their eggs."
"But boy dragons don't lay eggs," Fishlegs tries to dispute.
Oh my Thor.
"Yeah," Ruffnut is the one to explain again, "Your boy dragon, is a girl dragon."
"Okay, that actually explains a few things," Fishlegs admits.
"Hey," Astrid suddenly cuts in, "Everyone's missing their dragons right?"
"Oh, here it comes," Snotlout moans from the back.
"I've got an idea," Astrid continues as if he never spoke, "It'll be another new Snoggletog tradition."
She ended up getting the others on board, wrapping them, but Helga was not too sure, "Uh, Astrid, I don't think this is a good idea."
"Nonsense," Astrid says as they all grab a few. "It'll be fun. Now come on Helga, stay with me while we wait for Hiccup to get back."
Helga had a bad feeling about this.
Hiccup had managed to get himself on Meatlug's back while they flew to Odin knows where, but they had ended up somewhere very foggy. They dodged a few sea stacks as they went, "Meatlug, where are you taking me? Ahh."
They had almost run into a downed viking ship, but thankfully Meatlug had dodged. In the end, Meatlug took to the skies above the clouds, which although was a nice sight, Hiccup was getting very concerned. It was not much longer that the clouds broke and he saw something absolutely amazing. It was a very small island with a very large and beautiful bay. Most importantly, there were dragons everywhere. Eventually, Meatlug landed on the island and Hiccup dismounted, letting the dragon join the other Gronckles.
Hiccup took in a good look of this magnificent place and then he saw them, not only were there dragons everywhere, but there was also baby dragons everywhere he looked. He looks over and sees a Nadder with its young, "You guys come here to have babies. Woah."
He then observes a dragon rolling its eggs into a steam pool and gets closer to see what it was doing. He almost runs into some babies, but manages not to hit them as he goes over to the Gronckle rolling her eggs. The eggs must have immediately hatched, because there were now baby Gronckles swimming to the surface, "Aww, wow."
He then looked over to see an egg that had not ended up in the pools, "Hey look over here, you missed one."
He had no time to react as the egg suddenly exploded in front of him, knocking him back several feet. He watched as the baby dragon stretched and moved on, "Man it's a good thing those don't hatch on Berk."
Astrid and the others were nearly done dropping off the eggs, and she had looked back every now and then to make sure Helga had been staying with her. She placed the last egg in a sock and led Helga back outside to meet the others, "Wasn't this a great idea?" Astrid asks the others excitedly.
"Uh-huh," Fishlegs agrees, bouncing in his place, "Everyone is going to be so surprised."
Then it happened, an explosion came from the house Astrid had just been in and she was not entirely sure how she knew it was coming, but Helga had ducked in time to avoid something that ended up striking Fishlegs in the head, "Ow!"
"Surprise!" Snotlout called, being very unhelpful.
It turned out that the thing that had hit Fishlegs was a baby dragon, one of Meatlug's new babies. While the others awed, it occurred to Astrid what had just happened, "The eggs explode?"
It was not long before there were explosions happening all over the village and Astrid could only watch in horror, "The eggs explode!"
She was running around, apologising to anyone who went passed and then watched helplessly as one baby dragon smashed through, and set on fire, the Snoggletog village tree. Explosions continued all over the village and a few more dragons smashed through the tree, breaking it to many tiny pieces. "Awesome," she heard Ruffnut say behind her, Tuffnut letting out a 'wow.'
"This is your best idea yet," Snotlout says to her, nodding along to the carnage.
She looked over and saw Helga about to speak, but Astrid beat her too it, "Don't…just don't say it."
Helga closed her mouth, but she could still here the other girl say 'I told you so,' in her head. That is when the Chief arrived to see what was going on around him and he walked over towards her, "What in Thor's name is going on?"
She can only get out one phrase, "The eggs explode."
Another explosion happens behind her as if to prove her point.
"Toothless," Hiccup called, trying to find his dragon. "Toothless? Oh, Toothless, where are you?"
He had been trying to find his dragon for a while, but it appeared he just was not here. He wondered a little further when he came across a very familiar Monstrous Nightmare, "Hookfang," he called happily, running over to the dragon and hugging his snout.
He looked over, and sure enough, he finds Stormfly there too, "Oh, you have no idea," he says while hugging her face too, "how happy I am to see you guys. And you have babies?"
He had looked down to see them and they were adorable, "Oh look at you guys," he says as he plays with them, "all happy together. Who knew you were leaving to celebrate your own sort of holiday. I should get back to my holiday."
Hookfang growls softly behind him, "So, what do you say there Hookfang? Think you could give me a ride back home?" he asks the dragon while scratching his head.
He gets onto the Nightmare's neck and steadies himself as Hookfang stands up. The dragon takes off and Hiccup calls down to the other dragons, "I'll see you all back on Berk when you're good and ready. Okay gang?"
However, all the other dragons decided now was the time to leave as they all got into the air. "Oh, no no, no, no, no. I uh…think I just started the return migration. Well if you insist."
He watched as the babies started taking off, but the wind had them landing back on the edge of the cliff. "Oh, boy, this is never going to work."
He started thinking, he needed to find a way to help the baby dragons. Then he had it, "Oh, hold on, I've got just the thing."
He steered Hookfang towards where his idea was waiting for him.
Helga had had a bad feeling from the start about those eggs, but thankfully, she did not need to help the other teens in their efforts to help rebuild. She did not get the chance to rub it in Astrid's face that she had been right, but in the end, there was nothing she could do about it. Currently, she was standing outside a house that Astrid was on the roof fixing, waiting for her to be finished.
She noticed the sudden silence as her father and Gobber came walking through the very same house, "Oh not that bad? The village is destroyed, the dragons have gone and left us. Let's face it, this holiday is a complete…what are these people looking at?"
He must have seen it too, because he went silent as well. Helga was confused, why were they all so quiet? Then she heard it, the wing beats! "What is that?" her father wonders before he realised what it was, "It's Hiccup."
Hiccup? He was back? Helga made her way to the front, trying not to trip over anyone as she walked to be by her father's side, "Dad, what do you see?"
"It's your brother," he explains, "and it looks like he has the dragons with him."
So she was not hearing things! The crowd started cheering, their dragons were back. Helga then felt the ground shake and heard a large thump, followed by something sliding on the ice. Something large had just been dropped on the ground, "What in the name of Thor?" she whispered to herself.
She heard creaking wood as whatever it was stopped before them all. Everyone must have seen what was going on because she heard a collective 'aww' coming from the villagers, "What? What is it?" she called, hoping someone would answer.
"It's babies," her father whispers to her, "A ship full of baby dragons."
No way! This was amazing, figures only her brother would disappear, only to return with a ship full of baby dragons. She listened as everyone reunited with their dragons and got to meet all the new babies. She followed her father as he went to her brother, "Well done, son."
"Thanks, dad," he choked out, telling her that their father had been hugging him too tight.
She waited for him to be put down before she walked over and punched him, "That's for leaving me behind."
"What? Are you Astrid now?" he asks incredulously.
"No, so don't expect me to kiss you," she teases.
"Ha ha," he replies monotonously.
"Everyone," their father shouted to the crowd, "Grab your dragons, to the Great Hall. We finally have something to celebrate!"
Astrid observed the merriment happening around her as everyone celebrated with their dragons and the new baby dragons. She continued to look around, and was admittedly surprised to find Helga, sans her brother, at the table with the other teens who were getting acquainted with their dragons' new babies. Helga was even holding a baby Zippleback in her arms as she sat beside Ruffnut.
Deciding that was both a weird and welcome sight, Astrid chose to look around for Helga's missing twin, only to find him staring sadly at everyone enjoying their time with their dragons. That is when she realised, Toothless had not been among the dragons who had returned. She walked over to him, "Hiccup, I know this must be really hard for you, seeing everyone with their dragons," she reaches for his hand, "but you really did a wonderful thing. Thank you."
She then leans forward and plants a kiss on his lips. She pulls him into a hug afterwards, "Astrid, where did Toothless go?" he asks from his place leaning on her shoulder.
"I don't know," she replies, looking up when she hears the door opens.
She was surprised to see Toothless, and then an idea came over her, she pulled back from Hiccup and kept talking, "Wow, man, wouldn't want to be you right now. I mean, you brought back everyone's dragon except yours."
He started frowning at her, "Yeah, you know, this is not helping…at all," she then pushes him to turn him around.
He spots Toothless walking in, "Toothless!" he calls, the dragon making his way over. "Hey, bud."
Hiccup wastes no time and hugs his dragon around the neck. He lets him go and then points his finger at him scoldingly, "Bad dragon. Very bad dragon. You scared me to death, don't you ever stay away that long again and what is in your mouth?"
Snotlout, holding a baby Nightmare in his arms, and Helga were walking to stand beside Astrid when Toothless put his mouth over Hiccup's head, "Eww," the two that could see said with a shiver, Helga letting out a 'what?' beside them.
When the dragon moved away, it was to leave behind Hiccup's helmet, which he had deposited on the boy's head. "Uh, yeah, you found my helmet," Hiccup says, trying to wipe dragon slobber out of his eyes, before realising what he just said, "Wha-, hey, you found my helmet. That's where you've been? Buddy, thank you, you are amazing."
He gives his dragon another hug as Astrid walks over, "Happy Snoggletog!"
"Is anyone going to explain to me what was so gross? What happened?" she hears Helga ask behind her, "Guys?"
Helga was startled awake by the sound of a dragon jumping on the roof, "Oh gods, it's back," she moans, pulling her blanket over her head, hoping to block it out.
Hiccup did not give her a chance to try and go back to sleep before he was dragging her out of bed, "Come on, sleepy head, let's go."
"Wait what?" she tried resisting, but despite being weaker than everyone else, her brother was still stronger than her, "Why do I have to come?"
"You just do," is his very unhelpful reasoning.
If she still could still glare, she would be killing him with her gaze, but in the end, she let herself get dragged outside.
It was cold, way too cold, but Hiccup was too excited to care as he pulled her along to the side of the house. Toothless started growling, "I'm coming Toothless," Hiccup called back.
When they got there, he spoke again, "Alright, come on down, I was just…"
He trailed off and she was wondering what could have made him do so, but he just continued, his words giving her a general idea of what was going on, "Toothless, what did you pull this stuff out for? We don't need this anymore. Come on, let's get going."
She listened as Toothless played keep away, not allowing her brother to get on, "Would you quit fooling around? You have your new tail now. Toothless?"
That is when Toothless started banging his tail on the ground, trying to dislodge the tail he had on, "Toothless," Hiccup called out, "Bud, what are you doing?"
They were both quiet, but she could hear Toothless knocking around his old saddle, "He wants you to ride him as you always did Hiccup," she needlessly informs him.
"Yeah," he agrees breathlessly.
It barely took him any time to get the old rigging onto Toothless and in the end, Helga was not in the least bit upset to find herself behind her brother as the three of them flew through the sky. Even though she could have done without the trick practicing that had her holding onto the saddle tightly as her brother willingly fell beside his dragon. Yeah, she definitely could have lived without that.
Though her brother had tried gifting his Night Fury with the ability to fly on his own, Toothless had given him an even better gift; himself.
A/N: and there we have it, literally my first one shot...ever
So in the end, I did do GOTNF today even though I said I might take a break (in the the A/N of my HTTYD retell final chapter). It's time for me to move on to Riders of Berk. That will probably come out a lot more slowly than HTTYD did, because not only is it not a 100 minute movie that can be re-told in just over a week, it also has 20 episodes. Which means it's gonna have a minimum of 20 chapters, maybe more if I make some episodes into two chapters. Either way, it's going to be a much slower process.
Not going to lie, I'm most looking forward to RTTE, but I'm going to get through ROB and DOB, because they'll go to the back burner if I don't do them first and only one at a time. Anyway, until I eventually get to ROB, whenever that will be, I'll leave it at that.
Seza, out.