A/N: Okay, sorry for the break (again XD)
I am back~! :I AND REARING TO TYPE! FYI: My updates will always be slow now, I'm pretty sure. Pretty packed up here adjusting to High School :P
You all remember when we had that contest in people's theme songs? I just found the most amazing one for Nightflight (if you don't count that it's a guy singing) it's called: "Lost in You" by Three Day's Grace. It's SUCH a good song. And if you want, Toothless's song in the other story could be "I'm not the one" Just some food for thought…
I think that Some Nights describe the whole dang two books XDD (that song helped me decide to keep going with my story, BTW)
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Toothless swiped away a Night Fury almost twice his size, feeling energy and anger coursing through his bloodstream. Mistyeyes let out a threatening growl, ears slicked back against her head as she let out an angered yowl. The dragon hesitated a moment, narrowed eyes sizing up both Toothless and Mistyeyes. Then it seemed to realize that this wasn't a fight it could win. The dragon snuffed out an angered huff, turning tail and racing back into the thick of things, brushing low to the burning ground until it was hidden in the mass of other fighting dragons. Toothless watched him go, heaving for air as he suddenly realized how tired he was getting.
Mistyeyes let out a sharp yelp, causing Toothless to rouse back to attention, turning with a panicked look to the female. "Ludi is gone!" The dragon wailed, blue eyes wide with distress as she turned back over to him. Her gray scales gleamed in the light of the slowly-growing fires, and Toothless tried to remember how to talk calmly. But before he could say anything, Mistyeyes went on in a rush. "She was Hiccup's cat, he loved her! What are we going to tell him now!"
"It'll be fine!" Toothless yelled, looking around wildly for the small ball of fluff. But Mistyeyes was right, there wasn't anything there. Only smoldering grass. He looked up, surveying the area around them with narrowed eyes, a small growl in his throat. The Vikings were already losing, it wasn't a contest. At all. Toothless could see Snotlout and Hookfang, charging for a Night Fury that was scratching its way through a door, trying to get inside one of the houses. Ruffnut and Tuffnut were on water, apparently, swooping in every so often to dump water down to the ground in desperate hopes of dashing out the fire. Toothless didn't see Meatlug or Fishlegs…that was probably for the best right now.
But what Toothless also didn't see was Hiccup. And that troubled him more than words could describe. Toothless was Hiccup's dragon, he was supposed to be there for him whenever the boy needed him to be. And for what seemed like an eternity, Toothless hadn't been there for the boy. Shame hot as boiling water swamped over him, causing him to dig his claws tight into the ground. "We have to find Hiccup." He growled, a little angrier than he meant to. Mistyeyes didn't reply, starting, eyes widening for a moment. Before Toothless could ask what it was, the dragon ducked low to the ground, a Night Fury sailing over her.
It had mistimed its pounce, tumbling across the ground to a dazed sprawl on the ground. "Right." Mistyeyes straightened, not looking fazed at all from her dodge. Toothless didn't wait either, pushing off of the ground and sailing up into the sky, feeling the heated air slowly get a little cooler the farther up he went. Mistyeyes was right behind him, the gray dragon eyeing Toothless's fake tailfin with worry. It was obvious that she didn't trust Hiccup's handiwork. But it was working perfectly. Toothless didn't even feel the familiar pang of guilt that he usually got whenever he flew without Hiccup's help. But he kept this tail for a reason, and there wasn't any way he was going to give it up just yet.
"Where do you think they are?" Mistyeyes finally managed, the two coming to a hover in midair. Toothless scanned the ground below, trying to ignore the swell of anger in his chest from the houses down on the island. Hiccup was and always will be his main source of concern, no matter what any of the other villagers thought. But the boy was nowhere to be seen, that much was certain. Swallowing back a cry of anguish, Toothless forced himself to stay calm.
He turned back over, swinging his head to look back at Mistyeyes fixedly. "We have to find him."
He was expecting an objection from the dragon, something like: "We don't have time to run around, the village is in danger, you idiot!" But her blue eyes were clear as they bored into his own, and Toothless could swear that she could understand everything that Toothless wasn't saying. After a moment's silence, the dragon dipped her head slowly. "I know." She said, locking eyes once more.
In that moment, the village seemed to melt away, Toothless's troubles washing away in the split instant that Mistyeyes looked at him. Her eyes were determined, staring intently at Toothless, and the dragon knew that the female would follow him into whatever kind of danger he threw himself into. For a moment, Toothless forgot what they were trying to do. He just wanted to stay here and look into Mistyeyes's clear blue depths until this whole mess was over, all the danger and overhanging doubts.
But then a swirl of memories shoved their way into his head, cutting through his fantasy. Claws glinting in the darkness, bared teeth gleaming back at him. Penetrating green eyes, a whispering voice filling his head with muddled thoughts. Hiccup's frightened and hurt face. Blood glistening like a red river, bathing over Toothless's own paws. He shut his eyes tightly, whirling around and shooting forward, barely even hearing Mistyeyes's shocked yell. He wouldn't do it. Couldn't do it. Not again.
He wouldn't let himself.
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A cracking twig isn't a loud noise, right? Well, take into account that it's nearly pitch black if you don't count the faint glow of fires. And that you're alone in the middle of the woods. And that you know there are probably a million dragons running around that probably wont be too kind to you if they catch you around here. Take all that into your mind, right now. Twig wouldn't scare you? Yeah, right. It scared the living daylights out of Hiccup. The forest was so quiet in the middle of the night, the small little noise made the boy start up, hands flailing as he fell, unbalanced, to the ground.
Pushing himself up, Hiccup scrambled to his feet, drawing out the knife that was always strapped to his side, holding it shakily in front of him, eyes narrowed as he looked hard at the place the noise had come from. The action threatened to literally kill his stomach, which buckled and reared at the small hint of movement, it seemed. But he shook his ringing head to clear it. Mind over matter. It didn't matter, it didn't matter. He just wouldn't pay attention to it. What he wanted to know was what the noise had come from. Eyes narrowed, a small, nervous frown on his face, he started to shuffle forward.
"Are you sure you want to do that?" A voice asked from behind him.
The boy jumped, knife clattering to the ground as he spun around. At first, he didn't see anything in the darkness of the forest, the first hint that going into the forest wasn't a smart idea. But then there was a glint of familiar-looking green eyes, and for a moment, Hiccup relaxed. Straightening, he blew out a breath, a nervous-looking smile spreading over his face. "Toothless, you scared me." He mumbled, trying to banish the trembles that had started to travel up his spine.
The eyes merely blinked back at him slowly, and Hiccup's smile started to waver. The dragon crept forward, stepping into the small square of weak light provided by the moon. At once, Hiccup backtracked, keeping the same distance between them cautiously, fumbling down and gripping his knife once more. The dragon was defiantly not Toothless, it was much more slender, more graceful as it paced forward, green eyes gleaming with a different kind of light than Toothless's own.
It was a familiar dragon, but it wasn't one that Hiccup wanted to see at all.
It was Nightflight.
"Foolish boy." Nightflight cooed, stalked forward, tail lashing the overhanging plants in her wake. "You look as though you expected somebody else." Hiccup narrowed his eyes, but kept his mouth shut firmly, trying to keep his vision straight through his headache. Wobbling slightly on his legs, Hiccup stumbled as he backtracked, recovering with a clumsy-looking scramble. Nightflight took this moment to dash forward closer, green eyes boring into Hiccup's own by the time that the boy managed to recover. The boy froze at the sight of the large orbs right in front of his own, and the dragon let out a soft coo of a laugh, eyes flashing. "Oh, Hiccup, why didn't you listen to me before? It would have saved you so much heartache."
Hiccup gritted his teeth together for a moment, cursing himself as the words that were going through his head wouldn't come out. Nightflight inched closer, and (much against anything he would have rather done) Hiccup lashed out with his knife, nearly cutting across the dragons snout. She reared back just in time, jerking backwards like he had slapped her away. Hiccup was holding the weapon so tight that his knuckles were bleached pale, and he tried to put on a face that his father usually wore when Hiccup broke something around the house or made another one of his stupid mistakes. The kind of look that said: Look, sometimes I don't want to, but I swear, if you do that again one more time, I'm going to do something I'll regret ten seconds later.
Usually that look was enough to send him running out of the house with a quick excuse.
But Nightflight didn't even move at his look, making the boy wonder whether he was doing it right or not. But then she spoke up once again, Hiccup wincing as she did so. It felt like her words were drumming on the insides of his head. "Oh, Hiccup, I know." She said sympathetically, as if Hiccup had done nothing but stare at her sadly. The boy's forehead creased, and he opened his mouth to say something, but Nightflight went on, giving him no time to say anything else. "It must feel terrible to get left behind, but from what I've heard, you're used to that, is that right?"
Hiccup was caught off-guard this, blinking as he relaxed in his grip slightly. "…What…?"
"We've both been left by the same person, haven't we?" Nightflight prompted, slinking forward once again. This time, Hiccup didn't react, staring blankly in front of him as he tried to figure out what she was saying. His mind was as slow as syrup falls, even though he was trying to make a mental effort to speed it up. Nightflight had wound herself around him, eyes narrowed into small slits as she looked up at him. "We were both left by the one we hold close to our hearts. And both times, he has left us for another, isn't that right?" Hiccup stiffened at this, but could not say anything, whether it was out of fear or shock that it rang so close to the truth. …WAS it the truth? Hiccup couldn't remember.
"Toothless didn't even try and stay with either of us, did he?" Nightflight went on, voice soft, with almost a musical kind of quality. "He just left us behind. Like we were mere trash on the ground. I know it hurts now, it always does. But I'm telling you this: come with me, and you will never get left behind again." Hiccup blinked blearily, like he was just waking up, turning his head slowly to look down at Nightflight. The dragon was drawing herself up, looming over him now, eyes blazing with a new kind of fire. When the boy didn't say anything, she repeated her words, a little firmer, now. "Come with me, and soon you'll never have to worry about ANYTHING ever again."
Hiccup finally got control of his legs, starting to stumble backwards, feeling as though he was weighted down with lead. "N-No…" He managed, realizing that he had dropped his knife over back by Nightflight. Cursing himself over and over mentally, Hiccup increased his speed, shuffling backwards like he was on ice, trying to regain his balance. "You…Toothless-"
"Left you for that pathetic excuse of a dragon!" Nightflight cut short, growling audibly by now. "Left you in the dust without a second thought, without a backwards glance! Left you for dead, thinking that he would never see you ever again, that he was FREE from you! Left you for a HUMAN!" Hiccup closed his eyes tightly, clapping his hands over his ears with a flinch. Her voice had rose into a scream, bouncing back and forth and hitting through every inch of his head.
"Stop! Please!" Hiccup yelled, squinting his eyes open to look at her. "I don't know-"
"Of course you don't." Nightflight growled, reverting back to her whispering voice in less than a heartbeat. Her green eyes smoldered into Hiccup, and even through the haze of pain, Hiccup realized that there was something in the glitter of her eyes. Swallowing back a lump in his throat, he made a move for the knife that lay on the ground. "You don't know." Nightflight repeated sourly. "But you will, I will make sure of it." With that, she leaped forward, claws shooting out as well as her fangs. Hiccup gasped sharply, dropping to the ground and rolling away quickly, grass and rocks sticking to him as he did so. Shooting up, the boy watched as Nightflight shot to her feet, whipping around to look at him, fuming.
The dragon turned, stalking forward slowly, deliberately. Hiccup was a sitting duck, rooted to the ground, paralyzed. His eyes were wide, his chest heaving for breath, up and down as fast as a hummingbird's wings swept up and down. "You ruined everything." The dragon snarled, eyes dilated with hatred. "If it weren't for you, Toothless and I would still be together. Everything would be PERFECT!" Hiccup flattened himself to the ground as she yelled the last part. "But you had to come and ruin it all. Which is all humans do! I swear, I will rid this whole island of humans. I'll rid the whole WORLD of them!" She flattened to the ground, like a cat would do before it hops on its prey. "And I'll start with you." She growled, before leaping straight at him.
Hiccup threw himself to the side, stopping only inches away from Nightflight, who skidded on the ground, recovering rather gracefully as she avoided smashing into a tree. She leapt to her feet, eyes burning as she gathered herself up to spring once again. She let out an ear-splitting roar, and the reaction of it immediately sent waves of pure, white pain through Hiccup's head. It was so fast and sudden, he couldn't breath, gasping in without taking air as he crumpled in on himself. He flattened himself to the ground, closing his eyes tightly in attempt to try and bat away the pain. He still groped the ground for his knife, desperately trying to make this fight at least a little bit more fairer.
Nightflight let out another roar, but this one was cut off abruptly, replaced instead, by a shrill yelping. Wildly, forcing himself through the pain, Hiccup snapped his eyes back open. Immediately, he forgot all about the pain, jaw dropping open at once, eyes widening. He didn't know whether to scream or to smile or to laugh. So he figured that he'd better do a mix of the three. The scene in front of him was just too weird not to do that exact thing.
Ludi was there, spitting mad. Ears slicked to her head, small teeth bared, a gruesome snarl coming from the seemingly-innocent cat. There was no sign that she was ever a lazy housecat that still refused to not sit on Hiccup's shoulder. She was wild now, claws out as she clung onto Nightflight's face. At first, Hiccup thought she was just focusing on blocking Nightflight's eyes for a moment. But then he realized how wrong he was. The cat was tearing her claws down Nightflight's eyes, somehow digging her claws in deep enough to break through even the scales. She was clawing the dragon's face off.
"Ludi!" Hiccup gasped, pushing himself backwards rapidly as blood started to stream down next to where he was laying. It was on his hands, shining dark scarlet in the weak moonlight. If Ludi heard him, she didn't show sign of it, continuing to swipe down Nightflight's face like she could go on forever. And it seemed to stretch on for that long. Nightflight let out a low keening noise, and even Hiccup had to flinch away from the awful noise. It sounded like the dragon was being ripped in half, from the noise she made. And then suddenly, Nightflight swung her head sharply to the side, Ludi flying away from the dragon with a tearing sound.
Hiccup gasped, lunging forward and catching the small cat before she could crash into the ground. The cat's fur was matted with red liquid, sticking to Hiccup even from just holding her in his arms. She seemed dazed, but still alive, which sent a rush of relief straight through Hiccup like an ocean wave. He held her close for a moment, burying his face into the fluff of her fur, the small section that wasn't affected by the scene that just played out. He let out a sigh, murmuring a small, fervent thank-you. He knew that if Ludi hadn't sprang forward, he would be dead right now.
Nightflight let out another roar, making Hiccup startle. The dragon was stumbling around almost blindly, crashing into trees and stumbling over herself. Hiccup looked over his shoulder, starting to back away and into the woods. Maybe he could run back to the village before the dragon could manage to find him. But he overturned a rock as he slid backwards, the female whipping around as soon as the sound reached her ears. Hiccup jumped, eyes wide, ready to rush away. But Nightflight's wings shot out, propelling herself much faster than somebody like Hiccup could even try to think of going. She struck out with her claws, landing a surprising bull's-eye on the target, even without her eyesight. He underestimated this dragon way too much.
He screamed as soon as her curved claws met skin. They sunk into his shoulder so deep, he felt it scrape bone, could swear he heard it. He squeezed his eyes shut, feeling the dragon start to swoop upwards, into the sky. Her claws were in so deep, Hiccup didn't even move, dangling from her grasp limply, trying to breathe through the pain. His arms went numb, Ludi slipping from his grasp like she was a stick of butter. The cat plopped on the ground, looking alarmed as she stared up at the boy, eyes wide with distress. Through the thick of it all, Hiccup called down to her, voice choked. "Get Toothless!" He yelled, knowing that she would be able to do it.
But determination set in her eyes. With a leap that could have put even a dragon to shame, Ludi sprang up, sticking her own claws into Hiccup and climbing up the length of his back. He cried out at the stinging sensations, and Ludi let out a faint mewl that he supposed would be an apology. She managed to perform the feat without falling, which was good, because they were up in the air, already clearing the trees and coming into the night sky. The cat fit herself on Hiccup's shoulder, more or less laying across it on her stomach, eyes wide as they looked down dumbstruck at the ground as it shrunk.
There were hardly any dragons on this side of the island. Most of them were at the village, either protecting or destroying it. The party of dragons leading the children and old people away from the clearing hadn't been spotted yet. Hiccup could see their little forms crawling across the side of a mountain, towards the more shaded spot on the island, where they wouldn't be found for the most part. They were much too far away to try to help Hiccup. With a growing sense of panic, Hiccup realized that Nightflight couldn't see where she was going. She was going a entirely different direction than towards the other dragons. That, or she was purposely dragging Hiccup away from his home.
Either of the two proved difficult situations.
Panicked rushed up to his throat, cutting off his air. Shoulders stinging and burning, Hiccup looked down for any sight of his father, but came up with nothing. He couldn't even see Astrid. Couldn't look at her one last time. Would never get to apologize to her for yelling. He couldn't have helped it. Eyes burning, Hiccup resorted to the last thing he could possibly do. Something that he used to always do, back when he was 'Stoick's Little Embarrassment.' He opened his mouth, and screamed for help, desperation and anguish in every syllable of the word.
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As soon as Toothless heard it, through all the commotion and yelling that was around him, he could hear the cry as clear as if the whole world had been silent. Whirling around, Toothless shot off without waiting for Mistyeyes, the female letting out a yelp as she stumbled through the air after him. "Did you hear him!" She yelled out, seeming a little disbelieving in her tone. But Toothless knew what he heard, and all he knew was that he had to get there before anything else could. But his stomach churned as he wondered what would happen if whatever it was already got there.
But as they zoomed away from the burning village, Toothless caught sight of it. A black shape streaking up into the sky, heading the opposite direction of the village, into the uncharted waters that was beyond their own territory. The form was so dark, that Toothless wouldn't have been able to catch sight of it, if not for the two things riding on it. Riding as in being taken by it. Hiccup swung dangerously from the dragons front claws, being carried like a Viking carried a sheep. He was still screaming for help, trying to get out the dragon's grip, but it proved useless. Something also hung onto the boy, Toothless closing his eyes tightly as he recognized the color. Ludi was there too. Of course.
Fear welled up in Toothless, and he pushed himself faster, he was a long way away from them, he could only hope to reach his human before it was too late. There was no doubt in his mind who was carrying Hiccup away from his home, and that meant that Toothless had to act fast. But he stopped dead, crashing into a Night Fury, who suddenly shot straight in Toothless's way, baring its teeth at the pair of dragons. It didn't even notice what was happening behind it, it seemed to only want to make Toothless and Mistyeyes stay longer at the island.
That was when Hiccup spotted both Toothless and Mistyeyes. The human and the dragon's gazes locked together, and in that moment, Toothless's heart broke. "TOOTHLESS!" Hiccup screamed, begging for help, for a way out of this. They were too far! They were getting too far! In a wild act of desperation and alarm, Toothless rushed forward, grabbing the dragon's head with his front claws and doing a large arc, letting go at the last moment. The dragon spun away like a top, wings splaying out in an attempt to free himself. Mistyeyes called out to Hiccup, blue eyes wide with helplessness as she looked around wildly. Toothless wondered what was wrong.
Until he looked back that way Hiccup had been going.
And saw nothing there anymore.
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A/N: Any of you in marching band? I got a competition on Saturday at Lafayette. If you're in Missouri/Illinois (idk which) you should come up and watch the Francis Howell Central band. If you really are going, you can PM me and I'll tell you were I am in the show ;)
I hope I did good. I really had to rush, it's almost past my bedtime now, and I still gotta take a shower XDD
PLEASE REVIEW! I'VE MISSED YOU ALL! MORE REVIEWS MAKE MORE UPDATES, PEOPLE XDD