This is terribly late and I apologise for it. The week was hectic with tests and assignments.
Just a bit of warning, I'm not a fan of this chapter. The movie scenes are fast and it's difficult to truly capture the excitement of them. I also discovered that I might just suck as action-esqe scenes.
#
If the gods ever deemed humans worthy enough to wield seidhr, then Hela would love being gifted with the ability to bend time if only to go back and smack herself for her own arrogance.
Couldn't be too hard, she said.
Iron could be reheated, she said.
It was true, and Hela's recently finished dragon prosthetic was proof of that. And in any other circumstances, Hela would be jumping with joy, screaming about her success, maybe shove it into Snotlout's face.
But she couldn't do that.
She was too busy crying over the state of her hands. Her palms were burned and lined with new callouses as popped blisters clung to her fingers. In her haste to finish the fin, Hela had made many, many mistakes.
First, she had forgotten her gloves. Hela had ignored years of teachings that forbid her from forging without them. Then she grabbed the burning metal with her bare hands only to shove them into the nearest barrel of recently melted ice, changing the condition of her hands from potentially scarred to definitely scarred. Thankfully, this happened after she had to bend the iron to her will.
Of course, it didn't end there. The mechanisms were made but she still had to create the fin. Luckily, there was enough old yak leather laying around for her to sew the fin. Working with leather was always challenging, but it was downright difficult to do so while your hands were stinging every time she so much as twitched. It also didn't help that the needle did more damage to her finger pads than to the actual leather.
But it was done!
A little crooked and definitely wasn't the prettiest, but Hela Haddock had officially created the first-ever dragon prosthetic.
Was the warmth bubbling pride what Odin and his brother's had felt when they created Askr and Embla?
Tears trailed her cheeks as she held the fin to her chest.
"Gods," she sobbed, "I am so tired."
Hela nodded, deciding to take her cradling the fin gently as she tucked it away.
"I'm going to take a nap."
She saw the beginning of daylight peeking through the cracks of the windows.
"That nap has to wait."
With the hope that her excitement – and stinging hands – was enough to keep her awake through the new day, Hela ran from the forge towards the harbour. Without much thought, she grabbed the nearest fish basket and ran back to the forge for the prosthetic fin. After making sure she had everything, Hela headed towards the woods. Luckily, nobody was awake, not that it was a surprise; very rarely did Vikings make up as Sol rode.
Hela was cautious whilst walking to the cave, body bending in awkward positions to see the ground, yet also aware to not drop anything. Trolls existed in these woods, and Hela didn't want to take the chance of them eating the fish and then herself. Maybe it was the other way around; unlike the fish, Hela didn't have much meat on her bones.
Eventually, she got to the cove and found Toothless hovering over the small body of water, head bobbing as his eyes followed the swimming fish.
"Hey, Toothless." Hela cooed, stepping closer.
Immediately, the Night Fury jumped closer, resembling a bunny with the way it was hopping. Hela stifled a nervous giggle.
"I brought breakfast. I hope you're hungry." Hela set the basket down, tipping it over with her foot. The fish spilled over to the ground. It hadn't even stopped moving before Toothless pressed his entire face into the heap. "Okay, that's disgusting. Uh," she stuttered, carefully tiptoeing out of Toothless's line of sight with the fin in tucked underneath her arm. "We've got some salmon, some nice Icelandic cod, and a whole smoked eel."
Toothless jerked back with a violent screech, growling at the fish.
Quickly, Hela grabbed the eel, cringing at the feel of it. "No, no, no, no! It's okay," she tried to reassure him. "I'm getting rid of it." She throws the eel into the lake, where it fell limply with a splash. "Yeah, I don't really like eel much either. They're disgusting." She wiped off the slime on her hands on her vest. "Personally, I think eels were Odin's first draft at creating fish."
Hela kept talking, moving slowly towards Toothless' tail. Not that the dragon seemed to care, far more preoccupied with stuffing himself full with the fish. "It makes sense, you know? Nobody gets it right the first time, gods included. And eels are ugly, especially with how they swim; it's weird." She crept towards Toothless' sweeping tail, preparing to connect the prothetic. "I think Odin created them to spite Loki. He was like: 'Oh, you birthed a sea serpent, well, I made many of them.' I bet that Jorgmundtr would look like an eel, or maybe a dragon."
Hela launched for the tail, sitting on it, clenching her thighs to keep the tail still. Knowing that she doesn't have much time, Hela connects the fin to his tail, buckling it tightly on the skin.
Warmth flooded her chest at the sight.
"That doesn't look too bad. Needs a bit more adjusting. Maybe find a different polish for the leather belt or different material; wouldn't want to chafe the scales. The colour is as dark as I wanted – AH!"
Her words got cut off by a terrified scream as Toothless leapt into the air. She clung to his tail, praying to all of the gods for safety.
Toothless dipped suddenly, a mournful sound escaping him. Hela forced her eyes to open against the strong wind and saw how the fin was flapping. Blindly, she pulled it open to mimic the other fin.
The flight turned smoother, Toothless gliding effortlessly through the air. Impulsively, she leaned to the left, taking the fin with her, Toothless following her movements as she did.
"I did it!" Hela shouted, the fear fading into joy.
Hela would've loved to enjoy it a bit longer but Toothless decided to whip his tail, throwing her off.
Screaming, she fell into the lake, skin burning from the impact. She ddin't let herself float, swimming upwards as quickly as she could, reaching the surface just in time to see Toothless joining in the lake.
"Oh my gods!" she shouted, sputtering as she fought to keep her head above the water. "I did it! Yeah! You flew, Toothless! Oh my gods." She sunk slightly, spitting out the water as she continued. "I flew! Of course, I need to adjust it to hold open while in the air, but - "
Toothless, seeing her being too busy focusing on flying instead of get out of the lake, swam towards her. He slowed down in front of her, paddling to stay still. Caught up in her thoughts – she flew! The first Viking to ever fly! – she didn't notice how Toothless took the scruff of her collar between his teeth and dragged her to his back.
Subconsciously, she sat on Toothless' back, wrapping her arms around his neck as he paddled to shore.
"Thanks, bud!"
The realisation hit as Toothless climbed onto the shore.
An idea brewed in her mind. It was stupid. It was reckless.
It was downright treasonous.
If anyone ever found out about Toothless, she'd be disowned.
The lack of shame she felt at that thought was enough to dismiss all her worries.
Silently, she slipped from Toothless' back, shivering from the cold. She watched as the dragon shook himself before stomping to the remaining fish. With a huff and grumble, he lied down and continued eating.
It didn't matter, she thought. She was determined to get Toothless back into the air.
No matter what.
#
Any shred of positivity Hela might've felt evaporated as the day went on. Especially when she heard the subject, Gobber would be teaching them.
"Today is about teamwork," Gobber shouted.
Hela would rather die alone, thank you.
As if on cue, the unlocked door of a dragon cage blasted open with green mist rolling through the Arena. Hela and her classmates shuffled backwards, each holding a bucket of water in their hands, eyes moving frantically as the Arena got swallowed by the mist. Hela couldn't see anything past the green clouds.
"Now, a wet dragon head can't light its fire," Gobber continued, gone from her sight.
"I seriously doubt that," Hela whispered under her breath, jumping as he back came into contact with something. She looked over her shoulder and sighed when she found the shivering form of Fishlegs hunching into himself.
Great.
If she had to be stuck with someone, alone, in the mist, couldn't it have been Aron? He had a nice back to huddle against.
Hela was thankful nobody could see the blush on her cheeks.
"The Hideous Zippleback is extra tricky," Gobber shouted. "One head breathes gas; the other head lights it. Your job is to know which is which."
"Is it too soon to retire?" Hela muttered.
Fishlegs was too occupied with panicking to hear her. "Razor-sharp, serrated teeth that inject venom for pre-digestion. Prefers ambush attack, by crushing its victims - "
"Will you stop that?!" Hela snapped. "Gods, your muttering isn't helping anyone."
Hela understood being afraid, but Hela wasn't one to let her knocking knees keep her from standing on her own two feet. Besides, the morning spent with Toothless had given her an idea. It was reckless and had no guarantee of working; Hela couldn't wait to test it.
The green mist thickened, and Hela gagged at the rotten fish that came with it. Fresh fish smelt bad, but rotten fish was just disgusting. Did dragons need to brush their teeth?
"There!" came Snotlout's sudden shout. A splash followed.
"Hey!" Tuffnut whined. "It's us, you idiots?"
"Your butts are getting bigger," Tuffnut replied with what he thought was a solid defence. "We thought you were a dragon."
Oh, this was not going to end well.
Snotlout had the same thought and was quick to defend. "Not that there's anything wrong with a dragon-esque figure – OW!"
Something cracked as he fell to the ground.
"Should have hit him harder, Aron," Ruffnut snickered.
Her delight ended when Tuffnut screamed.
Hela tensed as Aron said, "Wait."
The silence lasted only for a moment before the sounds of a dragon's tail sweeping came from wherever they were. Tuffnut was heard again.
"Oh, I'm hurt!" Tuffnut shouted. "I am very much hurt!"
"Awe, damn," Hela said to herself. "An unfortunate sign of life." She hoped that they kept on shouting if only to keep the dragon's attention on them, less for her to deal with.
Hela really just wanted to go to bed.
"Chances of survival are dwindling into single-digits now." One of the green-scaled dragon's heads appeared. Panicked, Fishlegs threw his bucket of water at its face, hitting the mark.
The dragon shook his head and simply opened his maw, green mist rolling from its teeth.
"Oh. Wrong head," Fishlegs whimpered. The boy doesn't hesitate; he turns and runs off screaming, hands flailing in the air. If Hela weren't too busy looking for the Zippleback's other head, she would've said he cried like a little boy.
(Little boys were always so squeally.)
"Fishlegs!" Gobber shouted. "Now, Hela!"
Hela didn't bother to turn, her attention on the second head appearing from the mist, sparks igniting between its teeth. With a mighty heave, Hela threw her bucket.
The water splash against the floor. Right in front of the dragon.
"Well," Hela said. "Shit!"
The dragon – or is it dragons? – snarled, creeping closer as Hela shuffled away. Quickly, she stuffs her hands beneath her vest, rubbing her knuckles on her secret weapon of the day.
The eel.
Hela threw her hands in front of the dragon.
"Back!" she demanded with more confidence than she thought she was capable of. "Back! I said back." Slowly, Hela walked forward, the dragon stumblings over its feet to escape the eel stench. "Don't make me tell you again." Eventually, after a few steps, the Zippleback was in its cage. "Now think about what you've done."
Slyly, Hela grabbed the eel and slipped it from her shoulders, throwing it into the Zipplebacks' cage. The dragon clawed at the corner to try and get away from it.
Heart twisting at the sight, Hela whispered as she closed their cage door. "I'll take it out later."
She shut the cage and turned towards her classmates, finding them all staring at her with slack jaws and wide eyes, Any other day, she would have preened at the slightly awe looks on their faces, but Hela had other things to worry about. Like properly bandaging her hands or risk going to Gothi for treatment. There was nothing worse than Gothi's bedside manners.
"Okay. So, are we done?" Hela asked. "Because I really need to go to be – I mean, do something really important. Super secret Haddock stuff."
Hela didn't bother to stay for a reply, running from the Arena, mind whirring with a plan. She first headed home to where she hid the prosthetic fin. Getting there was easy; getting out was hard as Hela only left when the moon was high.
Turns out that excitement and hope weren't enough to keep her awake for an entire day.