You know one thing I enjoy about writing this story? I am learning so much about writing! Writing used to be so hard because I never felt like I was making any progress, but by the time I have these chapters set up for posting, I feel like I have learned so much and covered so much ground. it makes me so happy. Who cares if this chapter is shorter than the others? I feel so happy and accomplished about it! :D
Read and Relax!
Hiccup
It's a dragon!
I snapped out of my petrified state. I couldn't quite stifle a scream as I started backing away quickly. By now, my mind was telling me that yes, oh my gods, yes, there was indeed a dragon standing in front of me! I'd never seen anything like it before, but that didn't stop common sense from screaming at me to get away from it!
My sudden movement was more than enough to snap it out of its own frozen state. I was expecting it to pounce on me with its talons splayed and teeth flashing. I expected to be feeling its mass weighing down on me and my body being ripped to shreds. I certainly wasn't expecting it to back away from me as well. While my heart was pounding, my back slammed against the wall of earth when it also clumsily rammed into the nearby rocks.
Time was completely still as we stared at one another. I didn't dare move, and it watched me with frightened eyes. Wait…frightened? Then, it moaned. Well, not exactly. It wasn't really a moan, but it wasn't quite a roar either. Something in between maybe? In all honesty, I'd never heard such a sound come out of a dragon's mouth nor have I ever heard it again since. It did it again, and a series of clicks and chuffs followed.
I looked around the cove, almost hoping for an escape nearby aside from the one hole I had found earlier. There was no other way out of here, and the hole was right in the path of the dragon. Toothless's dagger was a few feet in front of me, but I couldn't get to it without the dragon noticing.
Thunder rumbled overhead reminding me that rain was still inevitable. Maybe that wasn't a bad thing. Fire and rain don't mix, right? How much better a chance would I have of surviving if the dragon couldn't flame me?
The frigid air was clinging to me with a vice-like grip, and I was trying to figure out whether my shaking was from the nip of the air or the fear of the danger in front of me. Even as my body slid to the ground without my permission, my eyes never left the dragon that stood a few feet away from me. My shaking didn't stop even when I'd started holding my arms with a white-knuckled grip.
Even as my fear visibly ripped through me, the dragon didn't…do anything. It would chuff in my direction and paw at the ground a few times, sure. There were a few moments when it tried to approach me only to quickly back away. However, it never did anything…normal. You know what I mean? It didn't attack. It didn't roar in my face. It didn't even try to fly away.
Its eyes scanned our surroundings; it was looking for something, I realized as my curiosity started drowning out my fear. I watched curiously as its eyes swept over the ground until it caught sight of the dagger. I sucked in a sharp breath as it got closer to the weapon. Then the dragon attempted to pick it up in its mouth. Doing so wasn't easy. The dragon growled in frustration a few times, but it eventually got the weapon securely in its mouth.
There goes my only defense, I thought. At this point, I had conveniently forgotten that I had another dagger stashed in my belt. In my defense, watching a monster observe you as though you were some defenseless fish flailing vulnerably in a puddle is mentally draining. I'm certain I'm not the first person to do something so stupid.
With the dagger in its mouth, the dragon did the most surprising thing. It walked up to me and dropped the dagger onto my lap. I'd initially flinched away from the item when it landed so suddenly on my lap. However, the saliva-coated weapon laid there innocently on my lap.
I looked back up at the dragon, and it stared back at me. Hesitantly, it nudged me. I stiffened at the touch. It made some crooning noise and backed off hurriedly.
That…was a little surprising. It made that not-quite-moaning sound again. Then it walked up to me again. Nudged the dagger; nudged me. And it backed off again. With shaky fingers, I picked up the dagger. I fingered it's curved blade and looked at the engraving I'd applied to it.
To the warden I call my brother on his fifteenth birthday.
I'd given this dagger to him a few months back. I'd been pretty proud of how well it had turned out; it wasn't every day that I'd come up with something that successfully did its job. Toothless had loved it; he especially got a kick out of me acknowledging his "unofficial job." After he'd received it, he'd promised to wear it proudly for the rest of his life. An overly-dramatic statement? Maybe. But he and I were always being a little over the top. Nothing new there.
Looking at the dagger now, I realized…Where was Toothless? He'd never lose his weaponry, whether it was his dagger or his crossbow. Sure, he wasn't doing well, but that was no excuse! I knew Toothless too well to believe he'd do something so irresponsible.
I looked around the cove for any sign of him, ignoring the dragon in favor of my new priority. I scanned every shadow and tried to see any tracks in any of the patches of dirt splotching the otherwise grassy terrain. Then I saw something that threw me off. Fabric?
"What is that?" I wondered aloud.
The dragon seemed to have noticed what I was looking at, and in one swift motion, it swooped over to the pile of fabrics with a sort of fluid grace that suggested that it was capable of being an efficient ground hunter when not flying. Not so great for me, if I was being honest with myself.
If it was possible, I'd fallen back a little further when it's lithe form appeared in front of me. Before I could process it, a pile of fabric was dropped onto my lap. I slowly roved my eyes over the tattered fabric, and I swallowed. My mind flashed back to earlier that morning. Toothless had been wearing a gray tunic.
My hands shook when I picked up the fabric whose color was a perfect match of Toothless's shirt.
The dragon made that odd noise again. I looked up at it; and this time I really looked at it. It's bright green eyes looked back at me with some intense, almost unnamable emotion. It took me a moment to figure out its name. Desperation.
But those eyes…I knew them.
A gasp escaped my lips before I hastily set aside the clothes and propped myself on my knees. The dragon was taken aback, but before either of us could second guess ourselves, I reached out a tentative hand toward it. Against all reasoning, I looked into its familiar eyes without as much trepidation as I'd had earlier.
I knew those eyes. I'd seen them every day of my life. I knew them all too well. My hand slowly brushed the side of the dragon's face. I absently noted how smooth his scales were.
My mind was screaming at me that what was possessing my mind was beyond the impossible. There was no logic behind it, and I shouldn't be doing this. It was a dragon! It couldn't be anything—no, anyone—else! However some little voice in my mind told me the impossible was right in front of me. Just take the jump.
I licked my lips nervously. I couldn't quite get the moisture back in my throat. My other hand touched the other side of its face, and when the dragon didn't attack, I shifted closer. I could feel his warm breaths on my face with each puff. It hitched when I got close enough, but I knew that mine had too. We were both afraid.
It took a few tries, but I finally managed to take that vital leap of faith. Because I was certain that I knew this dragon.
With a deep breath, I whispered an earth-shattering question. "Toothless?"
I'm still smiling. I have no shame.
And now to reply to my Guest Reviewer:
MMM: Uhhh no.
Go onto Google translate and type in "Will Levi Ackerman ever die" then translate it to Greek. Copy off the Greek translation and swap the system from an English to Greek translation to a Greek to English translation. Paste in your Greek translation from earlier.
The answer you get also applies to Toothless in this fic.
Also, even if he was dead, I don't see why that would justify Hiccup massacring all of Berk; that's just extreme, man. Plus that's too dark a genre for my taste. Nope, I'll stick with my friendship-centered mystery fics, thank you very much. Did you just come from reading Breelin's fanfiction Devil before you read my story? For the record, I will never write a story like that. Ever.
—Tenchiko
