...I really need to just stop telling people when I plan to upload new chapters. It's like I'm jinxed every time I do so. *sighs* whatever. So. New update! (A day late...) Yay!
I really have no good excuse. I procrastinated because I was debating over the cut off (and I was feeling laaaaaazy), and then my little sister couldn't get the internet to work, so I turned my computer's internet off for her. After she was done watching stuff on Netflix, I couldn't seem to get connected anymore. So I blew off my entire Sunday night watching Riders of Berk. #responsibleismymiddlename
R&R (Read & Relax!)
Hiccup
The explosion above my head nearly took out my hearing. I curled into a ball as hot flames fell around me. Sparks of fire bit at my clothes, and I hissed from the pain. Then I realized…
How was I not dead?
I tentatively peaked around and caught sight of Gobber pulling the Gronckle away from me. It bucked and screeched from the abuse, but Gobber was undeterred.
"And that's six. Go back to bed you overgrown sausage!" he growled before thrusting it into its cage. He locked the door closed and shook his head. "You'll get another chance; don't you worry." Then he turned to the rest of the recruits. "Remember. A dragon will always"—he bent down to me giving me a warning glare—"always go for the kill."
I swallowed thickly before Gobber grabbed me by the arm to drag me up. My legs were unsteady from the adrenaline that was still coursing through me. I glanced back at the door, half expecting the dragon to bust out and continue its rampage. When it didn't, I allowed myself to mull over Gobber's words.
Always?
The Stormcutter flashed in my mind for a brief moment. I shook my head, but the thought wouldn't quite leave me.
Always?
After we were dismissed for the day, I tried to get away before the others could poke fun at me.
"Hey, Useless, where do you think you're going?"
Not fast enough. Great.
I quickly broke into a run. Didn't even check if Snotlout or anyone else was chasing after me. I just kept going. I'm not as fast as Toothless, sure, but I picked up quite a bit from racing with him for fun. I was quick enough to get pretty close to beating him when I wanted. Just don't give me a bumpy terrain, please.
The minute I made it to the plaza, I was already tired. Breathing heavily, I checked behind me for any pursuers. Nope. All clear! I flitted along the outskirts where I could go relatively unnoticed behind the shadows of buildings. No, I wasn't being paranoid.
…
…
…
Shut up.
I eventually made it to the top of the hill to my house. I went right in, and I ran up the stairs.
"Toothless?" I called as I hurried up the stairs. "Oh man, you wouldn't believe the day I've had. I mean I…" I trailed off as I came across the craziest sight. Toothless's bed was empty.
Suddenly, the room felt a whole lot colder.
Something was very wrong.
"Mom?" I called. There was no answer. "Mom, are you here?" I checked downstairs. Mom wasn't there either. I checked around for a note or something telling me where she and Toothless were. There was none.
"Okay, Hiccup," I said aloud. "Don't freak out. They're probably just…seeing Gothi…without telling me…" Even though Mom promised to keep me updated? No. That didn't seem like Mom at all.
I checked the back of the house. Once again, zip. Mom's room. Nope. The kitchen? Nada. Really, there wasn't any place in this house where they could have gone into without hearing me enter the front door.
Maybe they really did go out? I went over to the back door—it was closest—and put my hand on the knob. That's when I saw it. Well, to be more precise, I felt it. The door knob felt jagged; that wasn't normal. I looked down at the doorknob as I let go of it. There were…scratches on it. Like some animal had been scrabbling to wrench the door open from the inside.
Something was very, very wrong here.
I opened the door and looked out to the forest. It wasn't evening yet, but the thick dark clouds hanging over the sky made it seem darker out. Foreboding. I looked at the forest and swallowed back my anxiety. Without really thinking it through, I went out into the forest.
It wasn't long before I ran into Mom. And when I say ran into Mom, I literally mean I ran into her. I wasn't even expecting it when she burst out of a cluster of tall grass and slammed into me.
Unlike her soft appearance, Mom was just as sturdy as any other Viking on the island. She could take down a man twice her size, and she could hold her liquor just as well as one. Pure muscle layered her slight form, and the impact with my hopelessly feeble frame was more than enough to send me to the ground.
Or at least it would have if she hadn't caught me.
"Hiccup!" she exclaimed.
I nonchalantly held up a hand in greeting. "Hey, Mom."
"What are you doing out here?"
"Well, you know. No one was at the house so I decided it was a nice day to take an aimless stroll in the woods before it rained, and now I'm here in your arms for no apparent reason whatsoever."
Mom quickly got the hint. She immediately let me stand on my own, brushing me off hurriedly. "Sorry about that," she said while she glanced around worriedly.
"So," I began. "Why weren't you at the house? And where's Toothless?"
Mom didn't answer immediately. A clenched hand rested over her chest as a frown marred her face. There was that very wrong feeling again.
"Mom?"
"Toothless is missing."
"What!?"
She explained everything to me. Apparently, Toothless had been acting really weird earlier. Then he just got up and ran out of the house! After Toothless had run off, Mom had gone after him. Naturally. She'd been out there all day looking for him, but he was nowhere to be seen.
"Wh-Well where could he have gone?" I asked.
"I don't know." Mom bit the bottom of her lip while her eyes were stormy with conflict. "I'm going back into town to organize a search party."
"What!? Why?" Okay stupid question, but earlier she'd said—
"Hiccup, it's been too long. It's going to rain—" She made a sharp gesture to the sky. "—And I can't let him get himself hurt."
"Let me look for him first." I don't even know why that came out. But now that it was out in the open, it took a firm hold in my mind. If anyone could find Toothless, it would be me. "W-we can't let them see his arms. I know I can find him if you'll just give me time. Please."
Mom looked like she was going to tell me no. She opened her mouth. But then she closed it. The conflict was tangible, and I was praying to the gods that she'd see it my way.
"You have until the first drop of rain," she said sternly. "Then I'll get together a group to look for him before it can start pouring. Understood?"
"Yes ma'am."
The countdown was on. I ran. Suddenly, the gray skies were all I could think of. They loomed over me as I looked for any sign of Toothless. The clouds taunted me, telling me that I wouldn't find him in time. He wasn't doing well. He could be hurt. Its taunts only made me press on harder.
The terrain was vaguely familiar. I started doing some quick calculations in my mind. I wasn't far from the tree fort. I was pretty deep into the forest already. How much ground could Mom have covered on her own? Where in the woods did she look exactly? I should have asked her these things earlier now that I was thinking about it.
But either way, Toothless couldn't have climbed all the way up to the fort in the state he was in. Right? But he could still go near the area for a refuge.
To the fort then!
I almost didn't notice the bola. I nearly tripped over it, but I managed to catch myself before I could hit the ground. Looking down at it, I recognized the bola as the one that I'd caught the Stormcutter in.
The Stormcutter that didn't kill me when it should have…
Gah! C'mon, Hiccup! Now's not the time!
"TOOTHLESS?" I shouted loudly. "BUD, WHERE ARE YOU?"
That's when I'd heard a noise. It sent a chill up my spine. The…noise…it sounded like an animal. But at the same time it didn't.
Intuition told me to go towards the noise. So I did just that. I heard the shriek again. Yes, it sounded like a shriek. In fact, it sounded like two voices. They were garbled together and screamed out in perfect unison. I knew that if it was any other situation, the best thing to do would be to run in the other direction. It was very possible that the sources of the sounds were dragons. With only one horrible day's worth of lessons, I wouldn't have been able to do anything against one dragon let alone two. The smartest thing for me would be to get away from the area before anything caught a hint of my scent.
Looking back now, I almost wish I'd followed that initial judgement. Almost.
Instead, I just kept on going. I ran into a cove. That's where the sounds were the loudest. Looking around, I soon found a hole that I could climb through to get down to the inside. So that's just what I did. I stumbled along the way, but eventually, I managed to creep down to the bottom of the cove. Before they'd cut out, the sounds had drawn me to a dark corner of the cove where a indistinct form was now hiding in a dark corner.
That very wrong feeling was telling me that this was its source. Against all reasoning, I went towards it. My steps were slow and selective, so I noticed immediately when I stepped on something odd. Looking down, my heart stopped at the object under my foot. A dagger. It was Toothless's dagger. I should know; I was the one who made it for him.
"Toothless…" I muttered, as the very wrong feeling nagged at me. It clung to the back of my mind and made my stomach flop about like a helpless boat trapped in a storm. What was going on?
I picked it up and looked at the silhouette that was thrashing violently. It was in a frenzy as it kept squawking and hissing loudly. I barely moved a step when it swung its body in my direction. I just stood there and stared at it. The sight of its sleek black form froze me in place. I took in its slitted, piercing green eyes which sent my heart leaping up to my throat. Those eyes stared back at me, barely registering me as much as I was barely registering its appearance in front of me. They seared into my soul, and my heart spluttered in fright.
Toothless's dagger slipped out of my hands and landed on the ground with a muffled thunk.
Okay, I'll admit that not much happens here. This is a kind of set-stuff-up chapter. I like how this cuts off though. #pacingpriorities #thepoweroftheauthor #tenchikoRULEZ
#votingtomorrow #prayforthenation (please!) #obiwankenobiforpresident #jediforever
— Tenchiko
