Disclaimer: I do not own How to Train Your Dragon or 'Touch the Sky' by Julie Fowlis from Brave. All credits go to Dreamworks, Disney, the song writers, and the record company.
Two months had passed since the Berk incident.
Hanna avoided the island like the plague. That one reunion was enough to emotionally scar her for a long, long time.
Besides…she'd got more important things to do.
Like learn dragonese.
"Come on, bud. Talk to me."
She was trying to coax Toothless into talking in his dragonese and she was also trying to focus on understanding his words.
Toothless made a sound, opening his mouth slightly.
"That's it…" She pushed her forehead against his nose, eagerly waiting for his first word…
Then his tongue came out instead and sloppily licked the whole front of Hanna herself!
"Ah gross!" She jumped back, shaking herself. Thick gooey dragon slobber clung to her. "You know that does not wash out!"
Toothless laughed in his dragon way, not a word of dragonese coming out of him.
She groaned. "This is gonna take a while."
"Hanna!"
The named girl twirled and saw her friends on their dragons, waiting for her as usual.
"Are we flying or what?" Vipermei asked.
"Coming!" Hanna called. She got onto Toothless and, together as one, they flew.
When cold wind is a' calling, and the sky is clear and bright
Misty mountains sing and beckon, lead me out into the light
The Dragon Riders flew to the skies, doing their usual contest of who could off the best stunt.
I will ride, I will fly, chase the wind and touch the sky
I will fly, chase the wind and touch the sky
Hanna, the champion of showing off, easily won by jumping up, spinning around in her flight suit, bursting through a cloud, pretty sparkles everywhere, and elegantly dropped down on Toothless's back.
With the wind rushing through her, she leaned back, cheering happily.
"Whoo-hoo!"
She loved being free!
La la la la
La la la la
La la la la la la la
La la la la
La la la la
La la la la la la la
Later on, the Riders relaxed on a hilltop, their dragons rolled in the grass, drunk on dragon nip.
Hanna laid on her back, arms folded and hands behind her back. She looked to sky, seeing an eagle soaring free. She smiled, imaging herself as that eagle.
Where dark woods hide secrets and mountains are fierce and bold
Deep waters hold reflections of times lost long ago
I will hear their every story, take hold of my own dream
Be as strong as the seas are stormy, and proud as an eagle's scream
Then she decided to do something daring.
Climb up the side of a mountain, beside a waterfall.
Cheered on by her friends down below, she climbed rocks, slipping once but she held on.
I will ride, I will fly, chase the wind and touch the sky
I will fly, chase the wind and touch the sky
And touch the sky, chase the wind
Chase the wind, touch the sky
Eventually she made it to the top.
She pulled herself up and over the edge. She cupped her hands and drank from the falling water. As if the water tasted of wonderful victory, Hanna cheered, spinning around like she was in the air.
La la la la
La la la la
La la la la la la la
La la la la
La la la la
La la la la la la la
She felt daring again. With a grin, she jumped off the cliff!
And touch the sky…
Just as she predicted (or guessed), Toothless leapt off a tree and she plopped on his back, hooked in her leg, and together they flew, followed by their friends.
Chase the wind
Chase the wind
Touch the sky…
The Riders eventually settled down when night rolled in. They set up camp under the stars.
"Why do I have to get firewood?" Hanna had questioned. "I'm the leader of this flock!"
"You spent all the time goofing off, leaving us to the work." Heather told, pointing to the woods. "Now get!"
Hanna groaned and walked off to the pointed direction, and then acted to yell dramatically just for the heck of it. "This is munity. Munity, I tell you!"
"You're such a spoiled princess." Brant chuckled.
"Make sure you get enough wood!" Vipermei
"Shut up, Mei!"
Hearing the crackling behind her, Hanna continued to walk on, looking for firewood. Toothless waddled beside her, and Sharpshot, the Terrible Terror from Gustav, sat on her shoulder.
"Here we go!" Hanna said as she set a good amount of wood on Toothless's back. "That should be enough-"
Suddenly Toothless pushed her, forcing her onto her back.
"Toothless! What is wrong with yo-"
"How hard is it to find a fishbone with a dragon?!"
She shut herself up. Snotlout?
"That fishbone with a dragon can be anywhere!"
She pressed herself against a rock, hiding and listening in.
"I don't think we can find a Night Fury at night."
"Yeah, Alaric. Why are we looking at night?"
"We have to keep searching. Don't stop for anything if we want Hanna back."
"But how? She's rides dragons!"
"Shut up!"
Still silence fell. Hanna pressed herself against the rock, lowering her breath. She couldn't risk getting found and forced back to Berk.
She must stay.
Absolutely.
Quiet.
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
Sharpshot sneezed with a squeak and fire shooting out of his mouth.
Hanna was so surprised she hissed. "Sharpshot!"
Then she realized her mistake. Even Toothless slapped his face with his tailfin.
Oh, dragonese would come very handy right about now!
Strong, rough, cold hands placed themselves on her shoulders, giving her chills just before powerfully hoisting her up!
Luckily, she thought fast, by bringing her body up, upside down in the air, and flipped over her capturer. She took out her Inferno, and Toothless and Sharpshot quickly dashed to her sides. She glared fierily at him.
Alaric.
But he wasn't glaring. Sure, he was scowling, but he didn't the Viking coldness in him anymore. And he had scars over him. But that made him all the hotter.
Those scars didn't look like they were made from weapons…
"We're taking you home!"
Hanna stopped pondering to punch Snotlout over her shoulder.
"Over my dead body!"
"Oh yeah…" Tuffnut drooled again, His sister groaned and punched him.
She made a move to mount Toothless when Fishlegs ran out, pleading frantically.
"Hanna! Wait! Please listen! Talk for a moment, please?"
She saw the hopeful look in his eyes. The truth, the sincerity, the peacefulness.
She sighed reluctantly. "There better be no traps."
Toothless growled, warning them it better not be a trap, crouching low to the ground, ready to pounce.
"We admit we're searching for you." Alaric confessed, quietly calmly coming from him.
"It was chief's idea!" Snotlout burst out. "Hanna, you have to come back! Uncle Stoick has officially lost it!"
Hanna raised a brow. "Oh really?"
"You don't know what he's like. Angry, shouting at everybody. Throwing weapons at every living thing he sees!"
"Uh, that sounds like vintage Stoick the Vast to me."
"You think we rowed in a boat for two weeks, checking every island for you if it was vintage Stoick the Vast? HE'S DRIVING EVERYONE CRAZY!"
"I'm not going back just because daddy says so. He doesn't control me. Even chiefs don't get everything they want."
"You think Stoick is bad, oh you're wrong! Dagur is more berserk than ever, looking for you and the Skrill!"
"Yeah, he thinks you were taken by dragons." Ruffnut grunted.
"You really think after finding I can ride dragons, I was kidnapped by one?"
"Dagur thought so." Fishlegs inputted.
"He's an idiot. Now get of here before I let Toothless Plasma Blast you."
Toothless happily opened his purple-glowing mouth to scare the young Viking.
"Wait, Hanna-" Alaric reached out for her, but he was interrupted by a roar.
One not from Toothless and definitely not from SharpShot.
Another dragon!
What was it this time?
A Monstrous Nightmare? A Deadly Nadder? Another Night Fury?
Worst.
A Skrill
Hildr riding Boltstriker burst through the trees, the Skrill's body pulsing with electricity and Hildr's metal armor lighting up.
"Skrill!" Fishlegs and Snotlout screamed in fearful unison.
"Hanna!" Hildr cried. Seeing the Viking, she tried to reel her dragon back. "No, Boltstriker!"
Too late
Boltstriker fired blasts of lightning upon seeing the Viking, immediately believing them as the enemy. Everyone jumped out of the way, swiftly dodging the blasts.
Everyone except Snotlout. As he was running, a bolt hit him in the head, causing him to stop, drop to his knees, and jabber in a weird, mouthy, tonguey way.
"Hanna!" Hildr hugged her friend. "Are you-" However, the girl glanced to Hanna's 'other friends' and, on instinct and impulse, pulled out her dagger. "Take one step closer and you'll be spilling blood from your eyeballs."
"Uh. Feisty." Tuffnut grunted.
"Are you a Dragon Rider too?" Fishlegs asked.
Boltstriker crept beside Hildr, nuzzling his head against her. She glanced to him, then put her dagger back into her boot and lovingly nozzle her dragon back, earning faces from the Vikings. Hanna smiled, used to her sweet affectionate style. Boltstriker didn't seemed to mind, he quite enjoyed him like a child enjoyed attention.
Then Hanna turned to the side and spotted Snotlout in his position. Wait, was his helmet smoking?
"Uh, Snotlout, are you okay?" Hanna inquired.
"Ha, he's better than okay!" Tuffnut exclaimed, his tone of voice mixing with cheer, impressed, and excitement. "Did you see that lightning bolt to the head?"
Hildr knew what happened to the mutton-headed Viking. "Oh, Sorry."
"No, it was awesome!" Tuffnut gushed, making her blush.
Snotlout shook himself and opened his mouth. Everyone expected him to shout, not drop words of Gibberish.
"You know, Tuffnut's right. He is better than okay." Alaric grinned gleefully. Snotlout talked gibberish again, sounding like a clucking chicken. "And making more sense than usual."
"Yeah…that's the side effect of getting hit in the head by a Skrill's lightning bolt." Hanna explained. It happened once when the Skrill got out of the iceberg and the Riders steered clear whenever Bolstriker 'let loose'.
"Okay, he's out of it, so Hanna, if you will-" Alaric started to said but Snotlout cut him off by gibbering angrily with his arms crossed stubbornly.
"Snotlout, we have no idea what you're saying!" Alaric snapped.
"Sure we do. He said I'm perfectly fine." Tuffnut explained. Then Snotlout blabbered again. "Said it again. See, I've told them." Snotlout gibbered-mumbled to himself stubbornly while everyone else stared at Tuffnut. He stared back. "What? I speak post-lightning Snotlout."
"Ready?" Hildri gasped, very impressed.
Hanna couldn't believe it. "How many times has this guy been hit by lightning?"
"Often enough." Tuffnut shrugged only to have Snotlout correct him. "Oh, really? 12, 12 times?" Snotlout fisted his hand, jabbering angrily. "He said, enough talk. The Skrill's all mine." Snotlout's lips curled into a smug smirk. "And Tuffnut is the toughest of us all.'" Then fell into a frown. Snotlout shouted blabber at him, which he waved off. "He implied the last part."
Hanna sighed, getting sick of them already. Quickly, she flicked a switch on her Inferno and out sprout green gas. The gas covered the area, engulfed the people and dragons in its thick coat and strange scent.
In the smoke, Fishlegs was running around as he got sick on the scent, Snotlout yelling out words of nonsense as he chocked on the foulness, Ruffnut and Tuffnut simply twirling with blissful faces and Alaric coughed onto his arm.
"Wait." Alaric took a sniff. "This smells familiar."
"And really good…" Ruffnut drooled, drunk on the smell.
Blue eyes grew wide. "Wait a minute…"
Memories of a time of dragon training in early years came flooding, one in peculiar of when Gobber showed them the Hideous Zippleback, when Hanna first showed her 'talent'. On that day, the arena was filled with the same gas…
"Its Zippleback gas!"
No sooner, there was the sound of a spark.
BOOM!
Two dragons with laughing riders flew away just as the spark lit.
"Weren't you a little harsh on them?" Hildr asked timidly after laughing so much.
"No!" Hanna retorted feistily. "They were harsh on me! A few harsh words, some punches and maybe a dash of Zippleback gas wouldn't hurt them!" She turned away. But a smirk crept on her face. "Much."
Toothless chortled in a similar, devious manner. Hildr, however, was worried.
Suddenly the dragons stopped in mid-air, almost jolting the women off their saddles. The dragons started to growl threateningly, eyes dangerously narrowed and shifting to every direction.
"Toothless? What's wrong, bud?"
"Boltstriker, sweetie, what's the matter?" Then Hildr gasped. "Hanna, watch out!"
Arrows on fire came out of nowhere, shooting at the Dragons Riders, who nimbly dodged them, but more arrows came, along with nets and bolas.
"What's happening?!" Hildr cried.
"Hang on!" Hanna shouted.
The weapons kept coming, fast and hard, not giving them any chance of escaping without getting hurt. The bolas and nets caught them, causing the dragons to come crashing down with their riders.
The girls looked up, groaning from the impact of the fall, and gasped.
Dagur stood over them, grinning madly.