I know that my chapters come in fast at the beginning but knowing me they will slow down after about four chapters. Please give me a nudge if I become slow. Please enjoy.
In a rush to be within the sky once again Hiccup sped to rig Toothless up with the saddle and manufactured tail. Hiccup speedily placed them on with practiced hands. Due to the fact the tail fin was made by himself he could take it off and put it back on as if it was second nature to do so. Toothless never had to be patient.
Once Toothless was ready to go Hiccup hastily changed cloths, pulling the brown leather flight suit over his lithe frame. Once he belted it up he checked the function of the hooks, harness and whether the 'wings' would easily come out.
Once he deemed everything in working order the boy and his dragon rushed outside to be met with bright, crisp winter air. There was a cold but gentle breeze blowing from the east which ruffled hiccups brown locks as it swept through.
Hiccup breathed in the fresh air feeling jovial and ready for anything. Thick condensation came back out from his mouth as if he could breathe ice as well as fire.
Hiccup vaulted onto Toothlesses' back, hooked himself on and then they were off. Hiccup clicked the tail fin in place for an easy ascent.
For hours they stayed in the sky, feeling the rush of wind and the freedom that came with it. The sun beat down onto their backs, warming hearts that seemed to soar like the Kittiwakes that caught the updrafts from the cliffs.
Often between the bouts of tricks they expertly performed in beautiful synchronisation, they would find themselves gliding along casually, feeling the gentle caress of the wind on their face, ruffling hair or fleshy frills.
"Hey bud, isn't this the way to live?" Hiccup had his face pointed towards the heavens, his arms out and his eyes closed, just feeling rather than seeing for the moment. Toothless rumbled in agreement.
There was barely a cloud in the sky. The Azure blue stretched far into the horizon signalling a bright, beautiful day.
Hiccup changed the setting once again so that they could ascend higher. The black dragon caught on instantly, beating his massive wings and swinging his tail in a manner akin to a dolphin propelling its body through the currents.
Toothless ascended almost vertically, shooting straight up towards the low sun. It was now afternoon and the waves took on a sunny yellow glow. It was only October, not yet winter, but due to being far north the days were shorter. The night would roll in soon so Hiccup decided now was his last chance to actually try out the flight suit.
Once he was in the air he got a little apprehensive about using it, but now he thought it was now or never.
Toothless performed a few barrel rolls, flips and freefalls before Hiccup deemed it time.
"Okay bud, this is the moment of truth," he bent his back slightly so that he could rub his dragons side, "are you ready for this?"
Toothless simply rumbled, saying it was ok and that he trusted the Vikings judgement. Hiccup set the tail to the position Toothless used for gliding horizontally through the air.
"Okay bud, this is it. On three. Two...," and with that he slid from saddle, plummeting towards the deep dark ocean.
Hiccup yelled in absolute glee. The thrill of dropping from high in the air acted like a drug to his system. The adrenaline pounding in his head releasing Endorphins. The adrenaline coursed through his veins, being pumped in his blood.
Hiccup felt too excited to breathe for a moment. Since he left the saddle he struggled to take in a breath; although after a few seconds he took that wondrous intake of oxygen, feeling elated even though he was falling.
Suddenly Hiccup felt a rumble in the air, signifying the presence of his friend, who tucked his wings close to his body to follow the small boy. They were now level.
Hiccup could see Toothless, grinning in the same manner Hiccup was. He could see the happiness in the reptile's yellow-green eyes.
However that fleeting moment of happiness ended when they were joined by 'it.'
The thing came apparently from nowhere. It seemed to be all around them, enclosing their senses in a sly, silky voice. It unsettled both boy and dragon.
"What are you doing Hiccup? Trying to act like a dragon now? Hah, that's so ironic. The boy who couldn't become a real Viking becoming a dragon. I can see the direction this story is heading towards."
The voice slunk away after that with cackles of laughter that ringed in Hiccups brain.
Hiccup lost balance then. He couldn't even bring the flight suits wings out before he flipped in the air, falling with his back towards the sea.
Toothless roared and beat his wings when the boy fell slightly out of reach from the dark grey claws.
Hiccup was screaming now, his arms flailing trying in vain to right himself. He flipped again but couldn't control his descent. The ocean waves where coming closer and closer. Hiccup thought then that the ocean depths were going to become the sight of his grave.
He knew he was only seconds from seeing Helheims gates.
Meanwhile Toothless was becoming frantic for he too was losing control slightly. He had to focus hard so that he wouldn't steer off course, otherwise it would mean the death of them both. Hitting sea from dropping at their height would ultimately be similar to hitting hard earth.
He roared, straining his body, his arms outstretched as far as they could go. Hiccup was only inches away, his terrified face looking deep into the dragons. His eyes revealed the fear contained within them, but that wasn't the only thing the dragon could see there.
Hiccup was resigned to their fate.
They were now metres from the water, as close to Helheim as one could get before death.
Astrid was flying a circuit of the island on her dragon Stormfly. It was late afternoon by now and the waves were cast with a golden glow.
She was searching for Hiccup. For a while now she was simply checking all around the island under the request of his father, who told Astrid a storm was brewing out to sea and his son really needed to come back in before it hit.
Astrid being the resourceful girl she was had rounded up the other teens in the hopes of speeding up the search. Luckily they all agreed easily and left on their own dragons.
The beautiful blue dragon with mottled yellow and pink scales flew daintily on the cool air currents. Astrid watched the sky closely, hoping to spot the elusive duo.
By now the wind was picking up slightly, heralding the approach of the storm. Astrid looked out to sea and saw a blanket of Cumulo nimbus clouds closing in. They were black and looked ridiculously moody.
She only hoped Hiccup would break from the spell of flying and actually notice them. She knew Hiccup, although the smartest Viking in possibly the whole of the archipelago, was a complete airhead, and wouldn't notice something like that until it was too late.
"C'mon Stormfly, let's check further out to sea. I have a funny feeling!" The dragon chirped in acknowledgement and with a slight beat of wings, changed course.
It wasn't long before she was joined by the others, who by an uncanny twist of fate, all decided to look out to sea too.
It was like something was telling them to look out there.
"Astrid!"
Astrid heard her name being called, seeing Fishlegs on his Gronckle Meatlug. The dragon was hovering over less than calm water much like a hummingbird with her tongue hanging out.
Astrid brought her Nadder in close so that she could hear him better over the building wind.
"Have you seen them?" She shouted over to him.
"Yeah, I spotted them out to sea towards the west of the island. They were really high up." He pointed towards the other side of the island, past the sea stacks.
"Good job Fishlegs. Let's go." They both turned, heading towards the direction Fishlegs was previously pointing in.
As they sped through the air Astrid heard the beating of two more sets of wings. She knew that the twins and Snotlout had joined, evidently heading in the same direction. She knew now they just wanted something to do.
"Hey Astrid, was wondering if you needed the help of the toughest, most striking Viking here." Astrid turned her sea blue eyes towards the Viking who sat amongst the horns of a flaming red Monstrous Nightmare. Hookfang was blowing smoke from his nostrils as he flew, which blew straight into Snotlouts face.
Astrid giggled when the boy started to cough.
"Hey, no fair Hookfang, you're ruining my tough jock exterior." He waved his hands around, trying to shift the smoke. The dragon growled in amusement. Snotlout pouted.
"You don't have an exterior," Tuffnut spoke from one of the Zipplebacks heads, the head called Belch, "at least, not a tough one."
"C'mon guys, let's not begin to argue. We have a mission here." Astrid took it upon herself to break the argument before it became sour.
"Whatever you say gorgeous." Snotlout winked at her. Astrid ignored the gesture.
Shortly they were passing over the massive sea stacks; the trees sat upon them like a crown growing darker in the now setting sun. The waves were building up near the coast. The stacks looked like the swords of Viking warriors fending off the wrath of the opposing army, the spray acting like the blood of the enemy.
Once they crested over them they hit open water.
Immediately Astrid spotting something. It was dark and a little ways off. She then heard a high pitched shriek that sounded a little like…
"Look!" Ruffnut pointed towards the sky.
Astrid knew then what it was. Not only was there one blob falling but there was also a smaller blob falling just a little out of reach of the larger one.
It was Hiccup and Toothless, and they were falling towards the sea, fast.
"Stormfly, Hurry!" The Nadder didn't need telling twice. She flapped her wings fiercely, speeding towards the flailing boy and dragon like a bat out of Hel.
"Come on guys, we need to help." Snotlout shouted to the others, spurring Hookfang on to follow the Nadder with equal speed. The others flowed without any hesitation.
Fishlegs, being on a slower dragon was pulling behind slightly. He watched the events that occurred with wide eyes.
From what he could see Hiccup was falling with his back to the water, his arms trailing away from his shoulders. He had stopped flailing now.
Toothless however was flapping his wings, not only trying to catch the boy but also to keep balanced. However it was a losing battle and Toothless looked almost as resigned as Hiccup did.
They were metres from the water now. Astrid could see that. But she was so close. Snotlout was just behind. They needed to intercept efficiently if this would work.
Ten metres from the water, Astrid was about fifteen metres away from them.
Seven, they were coming in close, but not quite there.
Five metres, Hiccup closed his eyes for what he believed was the final time.
Two metres, Stormfly could almost touch the boy.
One metre, Hiccup felt something latch on to his middle in a firm grasp.
Stormfly veered sharply, allowing Hookfang to also intercept. This time Hookfangs' talons closed in around the Night Furies tail.
Because the Night Fury was that much heavier than the small Viking boy he dragged the red dragon down, but the fall was softened by a large degree. When both dragons hit the waves Toothless came out unscathed.
Meanwhile Stormfly ascended with the light boy. Hiccup still had his eyes clenched closed with his heart running a marathon inside his chest cavity. He was shaking terribly and the sensation of gaining height so rapidly after his fall made his stomach flip.
Without him helping it he threw up a little. Luckily hardly anything came up as he hadn't eaten anything all day.
Hiccup opened his eyes when he heard the shrieking of a couple of dragons coming from the direction of the sea.
"Toothless," he mumbled with a vile taste of bile in his mouth.
Astrid veered Stormfly around so that they could hover over the two dragons and single boy who were rolling about amongst the waves. Sea water was flying everywhere in a flurry of spray and flailing wings.
Hookfang shot out suddenly on powerful wing beats, beating the tension of the water's surface. Along with himself and his rider he also grasped on more firmly to Toothless, grasping the Night Fury around the middle. His wings hung a little, almost dejected like.
Hiccup saw this and sighed, deeply grateful to his friends. That was too close. He was sure his friends would have to try and drag their dead bodies back to Berk. At least they were there if the worst did happen.
"Hiccup, are you okay?" Hiccup looked up and saw both Astrid and Stormfly looking at him worriedly.
"I'm fine." Hiccups eyes were still wide, his pupils still dilated in fright. He couldn't really say anything else at the moment so Astrid simply nudged her dragon's side, telling her to return to the village.
Hiccup was immensely grateful to his friends for saving their lives. Once he checked Toothless was okay, seeing that the only thing wrong was that a couple of harnesses and the chord that connected to the tail fin had snapped- everything else was perfectly fine, had ran up to Astrid to give her a grateful and sincere hug.
Whist he was hugging her she could still feel the small frightened shudders coursing through his body. Even now he was still feeling the effects of the fall.
She warmly snaked her hands around the boy's thin waist, hugging him close. She could only imagine how frightening the fall must have been for both rider and dragon. After a short while the shudders abated and Hiccup slowly recoiled.
"Again, thank you so much. All of you." He added to the assembled teens. He smiled his trademark crooked smile at them, no longer scared.
Astrid smiled back; knowing to the boy that an event like that was simply now water under the bridge. She knew he would once again attempt whatever he was doing again in a heartbeat. That was one of the things Astrid found herself attracted to; his boldness and lion heart. Those were the virtues he inherited from his father.
Before he left to take care of Toothless he gave Astrid a quick peck on the lips and then turned about quickly. As Astrid watched him leave for the forge her face retained a small blush of rose pink. Her heart did a little flutter in happiness. That was the first time the boy ever initiated a kiss.
She felt that even the approaching storm wouldn't put a dampener on her elated mood.
The storm came, but would not leave.
The storm was the fiercest anyone had ever known. It was like Thor was waging war on Midgard. The roiling storm clouds unleashed a torrent of rain and hail that blitzed the earth like a Night Furies plasma blast.
Some hail stones were so large they actually punched holes in thinner sheets of metal and wood. At one point Meatlug thought a larger hailstone was a rock, devouring it but then not being able to use it as a fireball later as it melted in her cauldron like stomach.
The wind came and never left, bringing forth dire storm surges. The docks were now entirely gone, swept away on the second day of the storm. The ships moored there must have been torn to pieces.
The people of the village were becoming greatly unsettled and deemed it not safe to stay in their houses. They, the farm animals and all the dragons that lived on Berk congregated in the great hall, waiting out the storm.
It was a squeeze to get everyone in, but not uncomfortably so. Most people cuddled up with their family members and dragons to sleep, trying to block out the loud booms of thunder that ricochet within the dark heavens.
By now the ground outside was littered with singed patched of grass and ground where the lightning struck. The air outside was tense even with the pouring rain and no one wanted to leave the safety of the great hall.
Every time the thunder roared the animals gave out frightened cries, causing their owners to constantly try and coax them back to calmness. Often owners of chickens had to run through the great hall, trying to round them up, much to the delight of the lesser scared children And the Terrible Terrors, who flapped about in an excited frenzy.
Near the back of the great hall was Hiccup, sat on the floor with Toothless curled around him. Their faces set in stone; a fierce gaze, looking at nothing in particular. Hiccup taught himself to ignore the sounds of the thunder and rain. He taught himself to wait it out so that he could fly with Toothless once again in the calm that came after the storm.
This time they sat there in silence, blocking out the muttering of the villagers and the growl of dragons. They heard nothing, only silence.
Instead they could feel the presence of two great entities clashing violently in the skies above them.
I should warn you that this will not be a pairing with Hiccup and Toothless, their bond is simply friendship of the most extreme kind (the kind you would risk your life for) Hope you liked this instalment and thank you to those who review, fave and follow.