A/N: Thank you for all the reviews, once more! They make me so excited to update! ^^
And all the new followers and watchers as well! Thank you to them ^^
When Finals start around the corner, I don't know if I'll have enough time to update, it all depends.
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Mistyeyes panted, staggering where she stood in the clearing. The fighting mass of bodies was starting to shake in her vision, wavering back and forth like she was doing spins through the air. She shook her head back and forth roughly, trying to clear it of its fuzzy feeling, growling deep in her throat. She couldn't focus, every time that she blinked, the images behind her eyelids would go from Hiccup, to Shadowclaw, to Toothless. She had no idea where they were. Was Shadowclaw here? Fighting amongst all these other big dragons? Did somebody kill him already? The thought nearly sent her tripping right over herself, eyes widening as she scanned the clearing with a better eye. "Shadowclaw?" She called out tentatively, peering through the smoke as she searched in vain for the small body of the little dragon. But she didn't see any younglings that looked familiar to her.
Mistyeyes felt the despair drag down her feet, pulling her down angrily, begging for her to just get down on the ground and give up. She forced herself to stay upright, forcing her legs into motion as she started to jog forward. It was like dragging thick blocks of lead behind her as she went, but she shook the thought away roughly. If she didn't think about it, it wouldn't seem so bad. Toothless and everybody else were doing much more dangerous feats right now, the least that Mistyeyes could do was help keep the island safe for as long as she could manage. Which shouldn't be for much longer, really. She only hoped the Vikings would be able to drag themselves away from this losing battle without any kind of fight. Any fight would result in total elimination on both their parts.
Being a dragon, she could see through the smoke easier than the humans could, though it was still pretty challenging to her. Narrowing her eyes through the foggy air, she sought for a glance of somebody important, somebody that Hiccup held close to his heart, praying that they were still up and fighting. She finally saw Snotlout and Tuffnut on their dragons, swooping down every so often, taking a Night fury with them, and chucking them straight back down to the ground when they gained enough altitude in the air. The dragons being attacked were too stunned to catch themselves on the way down, slamming into the ground with enough force to shake the whole island, it seemed. A unique way of fighting while making sure you were unharmed, but it took a lot out of the teens' dragons, it wouldn't be long until they ran out of energy., Mistyeyes thought darkly.
Evidently, Ruffnut had taken it upon herself to make sure Fishlegs didn't die. The teen was on another dragon, not her own. She zoomed past Fishlegs and Meatlug on her borrowed ride, shouting and yelling at them to go faster, sounding like a coach of a sport. But they seemed to be too scared to try and quit, zooming faster than Mistyeyes had ever seen Meatlug go, and the dragon was obviously unhappy about that fact. The look on her face was just like if you stuck an eel under her nose and kept it there for a long time. Mistyeyes would have laughed before, but now, she only knew that it was for the best.
Turning, she continued to look through the crowd, searching for one man…if he was still alive. Hiccup's father probably meant more to him than the boy would like to admit, if something happened to him, Mistyeyes knew that the boy would be heartbroken for the rest of his life. She finally sought out the man, stiffening at once, eyes widening. The man was facing off with two Night Furies at once, and no help was coming to aid him. The other Vikings were too wrapped up with their own problems to see that the chief needed help.
Shooting forward with renewed speed, Mistyeyes leaped forward, catching one of the Night Furies by the shoulder, yanking them down to the ground and pinning them there. She bared her teeth angrily, satisfaction welling up inside of her as she saw that the dragon's expression immediately change from anger to that of terror and fear. "M-Mistyeyes!?" The female shouted, surprise and shock cracking her voice. Mistyeyes started, feeling an odd sort of guilt that she did not know this dragon's name. She knew her's. "You're really here? Fighting for the humans!?" Mistyeyes flattened her ears, looking away suddenly. The way the dragon put emphasis on 'really' made it seem like Nightflight was spreading rumors around her. She wondered how many were true. How many other dragon would be here looking for her. How many were specifically looking for her to take out revenge.
But she shook herself, fresh fire of determination surging up inside her. "That's right!" She snarled, putting her nose right into the dragon's face. "I'm a dragon of Berk now, and if you know what's good for you, you'll leave this island and never come back!" The words ended in a roar, and Mistyeyes shoved the female up to her feet, away from Stoick and herself with as much force as she could muster. "Get out!" She screeched, watching angrily as the female staggered slightly, eyes wide as she looked at Mistyeyes blankly. Then she turned tail and ran, but back into the crowd, not away from the island. Which was close enough.
Mistyeyes turned, snarling, ready to attack the next dragon that got in her way, when she gasped, seeing that the other dragon already beat her to it. The Night Fury was shooting straight for her throat, claws gleaming in the smoke. She was rigid with surprise, unable to move as she stayed rooted to the spot. She closed her eyes, bracing herself for the burst of pain that was sure to come, when there was a sharp scraping noise, like metal on metal. She perked, stiffening as she saw Stoick standing in front of her, almost protectively. His axe was raised, as was his shield, and Mistyeyes had to lean to the side to see what had happened.
The Night Fury stumbled, catching itself before it could hit the ground with a thud. It groaned and whined, looking down in alarm at its feet, which were now missing an important part. Claws. Mistyeyes's ears perked, surprised as she looked at the Night Fury. She didn't ever think of a human being able to do something like that before. She was too busy speculating to see that the dragon was puffing up, readying itself to shoot a deadly blow down at Stoick, who was just beginning to notice the change in the Night Fury. Mistyeyes pounced forward, shoving the dragon away rapidly, watching in relief as it shot its purple beam straight up into the sky instead of its original target. She shot her own fireball after it, watching with deadly satisfaction as it rolled with the impact. It wasn't enough to defeat it, but it was enough to make sure he wouldn't come back very soon.
Mistyeyes turned to look back at Stoick, long and hard. The chief had never really liked her, she had known that from the beginning. With the other female Night Fury brought to the island, it was no wonder he allowed her to stay at all. But he had just saved her, he must think a little bit more of her now. As if to answer her question, Stoick gave a small little nod of acknowledgement to her. She stared at him a moment, heart breaking. "Stoick, your-" She broke off, biting her tongue. Of course, he wouldn't understand her. She couldn't tell him about Hiccup, he would have to find out himself. But how long would it take? Mistyeyes wondered.
She didn't have long to, though. A million roars seemed to split through the night sky, making the earth tremble and shake back and forth like an earthquake was ripping it apart. Stoick's eyes widened just like Mistyeyes's, and with her keen eyesight, the dragon could see a wave of dragons rushing forward out of the clouds, streaking down to the island. It was clear that these dragons were full of new energy, eyes gleaming with anger and claws unsheathed as they hit the ground running. For a moment, Mistyeyes was filled with so much dread, she thought she was going to implode right on the spot.
But she spotted Toothless leading the group, and flying right beside him was Shadowclaw. Both of them were back, and Mistyeyes truly realized what this was. It was the help they needed. The other Night Furies leapt right into battle without a second glance, it was clear that this came as a surprise to their attackers. For once, Mistyeyes let her shoulders slump in relief as the slim bodies of the other dragons wove around her. They were safe, it looked like. For now.
Toothless looked ready to turn right back and fly away, when he came short, looking over at Mistyeyes. She immediately sprang away from Stoick's side, who looked a little bit more than confused, it seemed. She bounded over to Shadowclaw and Toothless, a wide grin stretched over her face. She dove forward to Shadowclaw, bringing him close and smothering him against her side while Toothless looked on, looking kind of impatient. "I missed you so much!" Mistyeyes purred loudly, rasping her tongue over his head like a mother would do. The youngling twisted, trying to stretch himself away from her, to no avail. "I was so sad when you left!" She looked up, eyes lighting considerably as she looked at Toothless. She stared at him hopefully, waiting for him to give an answer. Or waiting for Hiccup to slide off of the dragon's back. But she knew the answer as soon as she looked into his eyes.
They were dead, the light in them had dimmed, it seemed. Mistyeyes's heart broke, and closed her eyes for a moment before breaking away from Shadowclaw, walking over to Toothless and pushing her head underneath the dragon's own comfortingly. "It'll be okay." She murmured, trying to push some of her newfound optimism into him. "He'll find a way to get back to us, I'm sure he will. You just need to give him time, okay?" When Toothless did not reply, Mistyeyes drew back, looking at the Night Fury with her ears flattened to her head.
The dragon looked like a million weights had been put on his shoulders. "I couldn't find him." He mumbled, voice small and subdued. "I tried…but they were going too fast. I couldn't keep up." He looked back at his tail, a sudden rush of fury sweeping through him. "I don't know this tail well enough to use it properly!" He yelled, his voice rising to a roar. Shadowclaw flattened against Mistyeyes in surprise, but the female just closed her eyes calmly, listening silently. "I'm used to Hiccup being with me! Showing me what to do even when I don't need him to! Without him, I'm…I'm not as FAST, I'm not as QUICK to think about things, I can't do HALF the stuff I can with him guiding me! I thought keeping this dumb thing would help, but it only made it worse!"
"Without the tail, you wouldn't have found Shadowclaw and the others." Mistyeyes said, flicking her tail back to the crowd behind her. "You've saved all us just now, and you wouldn't have done that if you were grounded on the island. We'd all be dead if it weren't for that tail." Shadowclaw drew himself up, as if to start claiming that he would have found the island on his own. But Mistyeyes clamped her tail backwards sharply, knocking him over and cutting off whatever else he was going to say. It surely wouldn't have helped her cause.
"I don't care." Toothless growled, the new tone of voice making Mistyeyes perk worriedly. "I would sacrifice the whole village to save Hiccup." The dragon murmured thickly, closing his eyes tightly. "If Hiccup dies I'll never forgive myself. If Hiccup dies…I'll be grounded forever." He paused before saying the last part, turning and looking down at the fake half of his tail. His eyes narrowed, and he pushed himself up slowly, raising his feet and crashing down on the tail with enough force to send the metal shattering, scattering away in a million separate pieces. Toothless watched with an indifferent expression, not even pausing to stare at the ruined tail before turning back to Mistyeyes, unblinking.
"Toothless!" Mistyeyes shrieked. "Now you'll never be able to go out and look for Hiccup again!"
"I couldn't find him the first time, how do you think I'll find him the second time!"
"Because you had me with you!" Mistyeyes blustered. "I could have helped you!"
"Forget it, Mistyeyes, it'll do nothing."
Mistyeyes exploded. "Dang it, Toothless! If you haven't gotten around it yet, I'm going to be here a long time! And I'm not going anywhere anytime soon! I'm gonna be here with you for a long time, because darn it, you NEED me! Whether you know it or not, you obviously need somebody here to make sure your head is connected to your tail! And if you so ever don't mind, I would love to be the one with you to make sure you're going the right way!" Toothless's eyes widened, stunned a moment as he looked at her in alarm. Mistyeyes's glare slowly melted into a stunned look as well, and she drew herself up, trying to forget what she just said. "If YOU aren't going to find Hiccup, then I will. Without you." She snapped, digging her claws into the ground.
Mistyeyes shoved Toothless out of the way a little rougher than she intended to. The Night Fury staggered to the side, still too shocked to get a word or two out. Shadowclaw stayed where he was, looking at Mistyeyes with a blank expression. He felt like he was missing something. But he didn't say anything, ears flattening to his head as he realized that this was sort of beyond him. But Toothless found himself, whipping around quickly to look back after Mistyeyes. "I don't want you going alone!" He called after her. But that didn't seem to comfort the Night Fury at all.
She turned, glaring daggers at him. "Then maybe you shouldn't have broken your tail like that, you idiot!" She snapped angrily. "What's the matter with you, anyway! Every time I try to get closer to you, you reject me! What, is it something I do?" She asked in a huff, Toothless's mouth set in a thin line. When he didn't reply, she groaned, pressing on. "Is it because I'm not good enough for you?" Still, nothing. Mistyeyes blinked a moment, eyes growing suddenly sad. "…Is it because I'm not Nightflight?" She asked in a hushed tone.
Toothless's eyes widened slightly, and his mouth hung open a moment, shocked at the question. And, he realized, with a guilty jump, that he did not have an answer for the question. The longer he waited and stared, the sadder Mistyeyes seemed to grow, and finally, she turned, shoulders hunching tightly. "Save it." She spat out, ears slicking down to her head. "Don't even bother, you don't even have to answer." She growled, looking as though she were about to take off right then. Toothless shook himself, pacing forward, about to call back to her. But Shadowclaw yelped loudly, taking both of the dragons' attention away from the newfound source of drama.
"Look out!" The little dragon yipped, flattening himself down to the ground at once.
Toothless followed his action, eyes wide with confusion. But Mistyeyes hesitated, too angry and upset to think clearly. Suddenly, shooting out of the smoke that billowed around them, a Night Fury pounced forward, tackling Mistyeyes with a feral growl. The female shrieked with shock and pain, rolling with the impact underneath the stranger's relentless claws. Toothless snapped into action at once, jumping into the fray and clawing at the attacker, trying in a panicked frenzy to get him off of Mistyeyes. And as he did so, he realized that he knew this Night Fury. Knew him all too well. "Asher!" He snarled, anger and fury lacing every part of voice.
The male whipped around to look at him, smiling grimly back over at him. "Toothless, I didn't think I'd be able to share another pleasure of being in your presence." He purred, leaving Mistyeyes, who was in a crumpled heap on the ground. Toothless's worried gaze rested on her form for only a moment, before turning back to glower over at the dark gray dragon fixedly. "Nightflight wanted to be the one to see you first, I suppose that she didn't. You appear to remain intact still." He laughed, voice void of humor.
The mention of the dragoness made Toothless wince inwardly, picturing Hiccup's last horrified look before they disappeared. Shoving it aside roughly, Toothless drew himself up, hoping to look much more sure of himself than he felt. "Clear out of here, Asher." He snapped. "Look around you, we're the ones with the upper hand now. And we're going to win this time, you might as well just give up." His eyes were drawn back to Mistyeyes, Shadowclaw frantically looking her over for her wounds. "Get out." He repeated, more firmly. "Or I'll MAKE you." His claws gripped the charred grass tightly, and he growled deep in his throat.
"Hah. A petty little human dragon will be the one to defeat ME?" Asher asked, amusement overlapping across his voice. "I'd love to see you try." He growled, crouching low to the ground. Toothless's eyes narrowed, accepting the challenge as he flattened himself down as well. For a moment, they both sized up one another, waiting. Toothless finally broke the stare-down as he shot forward, grabbing Asher and trying to pin him down to the ground. The dragon retaliated, though, rearing up on his hind-legs and swiping a rough blow across Toothless's cheek. The Night Fury hissed with pain, one eye closed, but he swept his tail forward, knocking Asher's legs out from underneath him and watching coldly as his opponent crashed into the ground.
Dashing forward, Toothless grabbed Asher's wing before the other dragon could try to push himself up. Gritting his teeth together tightly, Toothless ripped his claws down the length of the wing sloppily, Asher hissing loudly with pain as he whirled around, trying to lash back at the Night Fury. Toothless threw himself forward, repeating the process with the other wing before Asher finally managed to throw him off, raking his claws down his shoulder as he snagged him off. Snarling, Toothless flattened himself to the ground, digging his claws into the grass as he glowered over at Asher, remaining still.
It took a moment for the gray dragon to finally bring his composure back. But when he did, he straightened, smirking over at Toothless as he swaggered over to the defeated Night Fury, triumph gleaming in his eyes. "Give up already?" He asked, stopping to loom over him. "I would have thought the Great Toothless would have 'bested' me by now. I'm slightly disappointed, actually." He curled his upper lip down at the dragon, but Toothless clamped his teeth shut, refusing to even move a single muscle.
Mistyeyes's voice drifted over, sounding a little scared. "Toothless?" She asked weakly.
Asher flapped his ruined wings excitedly, seeming to get a kick out of the scene in front of him. "Don't worry, Mistyeyes, you can watch me kill him." The Night Fury sneered, still chuckling to himself. "And then you're next. You and every other human on this miserable spot of an island." Toothless narrowed his eyes slightly, body aching by now. Asher noticed the brief flicker of pain, and he snickered once more before throwing himself on top of Toothless. The Night Fury pushed backwards, locking himself against Asher as the two spun and rolled on the ground in a wrestling heap.
They rolled and tossed on the ground, snarling and slapping each other. Mistyeyes realized with a form of dread that the two were getting much too close to the edge of the island. They were going to fall right off. She struggled to push herself up, but gave up halfway, the pain too much for her to bear. Her eyes shone with desperation, and she called out in a strained voice. "Toothless! Look out!" She shrieked, eyes widening as they got closer and closer. With Toothless unable to fly on his own, he would be done for. The look on Shadowclaw's face seemed to echo her own thoughts, the little youngling making a move to go and help them. But that would only make it worse. Mistyeyes reached over quickly, clamping her paw down tightly on his tail, keeping his there. Instead, she raised her head to the village, where the other Night Furies had gone in their aid. "Help!" She shouted frantically. "Help!"
Toothless caught sight of the ocean raging below them, realizing the same thing Mistyeyes was trying to tell him with a start. He couldn't breathe underneath all this weight, he was going to suffocate! How was he going to get out of this situation? He closed his eyes a moment, feeling the ground starting to come to a stop, felt it slope downwards slightly. Suddenly, the thought slammed into him, and he abruptly slammed his back legs into the earth, feeling the top part of himself still rolling.
Asher stiffened at the odd move, meeting Toothless's eyes with a scared sort of look. Toothless paused a moment, hesitating, before shoving Asher away from him with all the strength he could muster. Asher was unbalanced, and Toothless hooked his limbs back to himself, whirling around and kicking Asher's legs out with a grunt. Toothless panted with relief and exhaustion, eyes wide as he realized how close he was to falling off himself. Looking over his shoulder, Toothless started, bounding over to the edge of the grass and leaning over, ears perked.
Asher was clinging to the side of the island, eyes bigger than the moon as he stared up desperately at Toothless. He opened his mouth to say something, a strangled whining noise coming out instead. He was too scared to say anything. Toothless narrowed his eyes, close to caving in and pulling the Night Fury to safety. Leaning down close, Toothless's eyes bored into Asher's own. "Do you know where Nightflight was going?" He demanded, voice souring as he said her voice. "Where was she going when she left the island?" When Asher did not reply quick enough, Toothless snarled, pushing his face closer. "TELL ME! I have to know!"
"I-I don't know what you're talking about!" Asher blustered, scrabbling for a hold on the rock face. "I didn't even know that Nightflight left!" Toothless looked more than disappointed, drawing backwards and closing his eyes, letting out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. He started to turn, but stopped at the sound of Asher's alarmed voice once more. "W-Wait! Help me up, please! I-I'm begging you!" He yelped, trying vainly to fly back up and right himself. But his wings were tattered, and he couldn't fly. Just like a ship couldn't go across the ocean with ruined sails.
"You wanna know something interesting, Asher?" Toothless said suddenly, going back to leaning over the edge, over the Night Fury's frightened face. The dragon stared back at him unintelligently, waiting for his answer as he clawed for a grip. "You know how I did that?" He asked, nodding his head to the his wings. When he still didn't answer, Toothless went on, taking a step backwards, much to Asher's alarm. "A HUMAN taught me that move." He didn't wait to see what Asher's face would look like, didn't wait to see whether the dragon would even be remotely changed by it. The statement brought a fresh wave of pain over him, and he swung around, going back over to Mistyeyes.
"Are you alright?" He asked softly, voice hushed by now.
The female looked shocked as well, but raw relief was there in her eyes as well as she looked up at Toothless. "I'll be fine." She murmured, subdued as well. Shadowclaw looked at a loss of what to do, turning his head and looking back over his shoulder at the village. It was still burning, most of the houses reduced to nothing by now. The Vikings had seemed shocked at the amount of new dragons, but they seemed to have found out that they were on their side. Though from where he sat, Shadowclaw could see Stoick giving a hefty blow to one of the Night Furies that was trying to help them. The dragon whirled around, teeth bared as he hissed at the chief. Shadowclaw stiffened, bracing himself to run out to the rescue, which would be a pretty sad rescue. But the dragon showed an immense amount of self-control, ducking his head and melting away in the crowd.
The youngling opened his mouth to say something, but snapped it shut when he turned. Toothless was hunched over, eyes closed tightly, chest moving up and down oddly, as if he'd forgotten how to breathe properly. Mistyeyes had pushed herself up to a sitting position, hesitantly pushing forward and resting her head on Toothless's shoulder comfortingly. Toothless spoke first, voice strangled and raspy. "He's gone, Mistyeyes. I'm never going to see him again." Mistyeyes murmured out a small phrase, too quiet for Shadowclaw to hear, and yet he figured he didn't need to. Toothless mumbled out a reply, digging his claws into the ground as if he needed help standing. "I'll never be whole again without him. And I don't even think he knows that anymore. I was so…different…I lost sight of what was really important."
Mistyeyes drew back at this, looking more than hurt by this. She made a move to speak, but then choked it back, substituting it with a simple, slow nod. "I'm sure he knew how much you care about him." She said softly. "Anybody could see how much you two were made for each other. There's no way he could forget it. I'm sure of it." Her eyes were bitter now, and the message behind her words was clear. And I was a fool to think that you could share that much love with anybody but him.
Looking at Toothless, what a wreck he seemed to be, she kept her mouth shut. She didn't want to seem selfish, she just wanted to help him through this. And then she could figure out what to do afterwards. She pushed against him once more, closing her eyes as she did so. "It'll all be okay." She murmured, as if she were talking to a child. "I promise it'll get better."
She didn't know if she was talking to him, or herself.
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A/N: I was going to write this much longer, but my friends are coming over, so I copy/pasted it onto another chapter. I just felt bad that I didn't update in a while, so I separated it. The Hiccup part of this chapter will be next chapter, and you just got the Mistyeyes chapter ^^
I hope you like it, and I'm pretty sure I'll get another update out this weekend maybe. I already have two pages out for the next one already considering I already typed some of it, so… XDD
Review! :D