A/N: Once again, I didn't get to link these two chapters together. I'm posting this one right after the other though, so that pretty much makes up for it, in my opinion. O3O
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"We're pretty close, I think." Hiccup mumbled, throwing a look back at Ludi, who was leaping elegantly from branch to branch. She was a few feet above of the human, showing off grace that Hiccup could probably pull off if given a million years of practice. Her eyes were narrowed from irritation, anger, and concentration as she pulled off the feat, throwing glares over at Hiccup every so often. She seemed to be a lot grouchier than usual ever since they landed on this island. Which was to be expected, Hiccup figured.
Ludi pushed off of her branch with more force than she had before, the branch whipping back to slap Hiccup's injured shoulder with a glancing blow. But the pain that rocketed through him could have been from a knife instead of a branch. He hissed at once, dropping down to the ground and holding his shoulder tightly. Ludi screeched to a halt, eyes wide as she turned to look back at him. Immediately, she jumped down from the tree, scurrying over to Hiccup with a small mewl. Her ears were flattened to her head, and she jumped from foot to foot anxiously.
"It's okay, Ludi." He said through his teeth, closing and opening his eyes to try to clear the black spots on his vision. He turned his head, looking down at his shoulder to let out a low groan. The wound had only just begun to try and close, now it was reopened. He grumbled angry words underneath his breath as he pushing himself up with a wince. "Son of a half-troll." He growled, hand coming back to him dyed red. Wiping it away on the trunk of the tree, he turned, looking at Ludi for a moment before managing a grin. "S'fine. It's all good." He started walking again, Ludi having to run to catch up to him. The cat eyed him carefully as she trotted down beside his legs, but didn't stop.
He pressed his hand down on the wound as tight as he could without staggering from it, concentrating on breathing out of his mouth instead of his nose. He was that the smell wouldn't make his normally-queasy stomach too happy. And that was the last thing they needed right now. They NEEDED to get off the island, and for once, Hiccup was out of ideas. He usually had at least something bounce off of and hopefully smack into the answer, but this time he only had one plan. He couldn't swim back to the island, he'd give out within in the house, especially with Ludi in tow and his injury of his arm. He could wait for somebody to finally find him, but even he had no idea where he was, and he didn't see any other island while they were in the air.
The only mode of getting back home was trying to kill him. Yes, she was blinded, but Hiccup was sure that he could get around that little flaw. He got around Toothless's handicap, of course, he could get around Nightflight if he could just prove that whatever grudge she held against him was all for naught. The idea was a stupid one, and one that he probably wouldn't be able to pull off. But he didn't know what else he could do. Ludi was here to protect now, it wasn't just his life in danger. He had to make sure she made it back home too. Which meant he would do everything he could to try and get home before it was too late. The thought made him look down worriedly at Ludi, the cat's ears flicking back and forth irritably, as if there was something on them.
Stooping down, he grabbed Ludi up in his arms tightly, managing to hold her close despite the pain in his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Ludi." He said, the cat's ears finally coming to an stop as she looked over at him, sniffling slightly. "We'll get out of here, it might just take a while." He said, looking over at his shoulder as he spoke. It wasn't doing good with only his shirt covering it up, it needed much more than Hiccup was giving it. The boy sighed, coming to stop as he glowered at the ground. He never seemed to catch a break. No matter which way he looked, there was an obstacle. And now his only hope was on somebody that just threatened his life…for the millionth time.
"It's a mess." He grumbled underneath his breath. "It always is."
Ludi frowned at this, lowering her head down to rest it on Hiccup's arm glumly. Sometimes Hiccup forgot she could talk, she could do it in her own way, really. Her tail lashed back and forth, and she shuffled nervously. Hiccup was about to say something, if only to break the silence that was pressing on them, when he shut his mouth abruptly, deciding that making a whole bunch of noise wouldn't be such a good idea right now. He had no idea where Nightflight was, and he hadn't figured out to say to her yet. She probably wouldn't even get to say anything, he thought dryly. She's made it pretty clear on the stance between them.
He adjusted his hold on Ludi before starting forward once again. He drew his hand over her nervously, almost unconsciously doing so. He never noticed before, but he didn't realize how much he missed having Ludi around. He'd been isolated for what seemed like a long time, and the relationships he'd made with everyone slowly dwindled day by day. He was glad that Ludi was here with him at least, he was sure that he would have driven himself crazy if he had been alone. But it was also bad this way; if he couldn't make it, that would mean that she wouldn't make it either. If he went down, he was dragging Ludi down with him as well. He had to watch where he stepped, and right now, that theory wasn't adding up well with their could-be results.
And if he didn't make it back himself, what would happen? What would happen to Astrid? To Toothless and Mistyeyes. The thought made him flinch away, grimacing as if slapped across the face. Toothless would never forgive himself, that much was entirely certain. Toothless got upset whenever it even looked like Hiccup was thinking of what happened in the past. Now that all this had happened…Hiccup shut his eyes tightly as he walked, wishing fiercely that the dragon had not seen him being dragged away by Nightflight. Wishing that he wasn't so stupid as to call out for him. He wasn't thinking most of these days, it seemed.
He hissed as another flash of pain went through him, nearly dropping Ludi as his shoulder went numb for a moment. The cat was jostled, letting out a shrill yelp as she tried to cling to him tighter in order to stay upright. Hiccup winced at the claws Ludi used, but didn't comment, only pulling them off like he always did. The longer he walked, the longer he felt more strained, his shoulder aching from holding Ludi, even though he'd only been holding her for a few minutes. The cat felt like lead in his arms, and he had to strain to hold her up and not let her fall.
The island proved to be much bigger than Hiccup had originally thought it to be. He thought it was a small, isolated spit of land in the middle of nowhere. And it kinda was. But it could almost rival Berk in size, or at least, that was what Hiccup was getting after wandering for almost a whole hour. His arms were failing him, and his left leg was aching from its long use. Ludi was dozing in his arms by now, the day catching up with her as she let out muffled snores into his elbow, despite the way his arms were shaking. He bit his bottom lip as he stumbled on, wondering how the heck the stupid dragon got this far.
There were signs of broken tree limbs and ruts in the ground, he must be getting somewhere. A blind dragon could only go so far, right? But he guessed that that was the problem, really. She could go anywhere and everywhere she wanted. It wasn't like she could see where she was going, right? His thoughts were slowly getting more and more irritated the farther he went along. Which was totally unrelated to the way he was going NOWHERE.
He shook his head back and forth, trying to clear his thoughts.
Suddenly, he stopped, blinking rapidly as he straightened, the thoughts of pain and exhaustion immediately flying away from his mind. He'd been here before. The lack of movement roused Ludi from her little half-nap, the cat raising her head slowly, bleary eyes slowly scanning the area with sleepy curiosity. Hiccup's green eyes flashed, and he walked slowly forward to stand in front of one of the trees, expression turning sour immediately. "Crap!" He growled, looking around aimlessly for a moment, taking in wherever he was. Ludi was still confused, but remained where she was, stretching the sleepiness out of her limbs even though she'd been taking it easy and laying on him the entire walk.
"We've just gone in the biggest circle I've ever experienced." Hiccup grumbled, irritation showing in every fiber of his being. Ludi woke up at this, starting a moment before souring at once, ears flattening to the sides of her head glumly. Hiccup looked around, trying to figure out which way he went. If he went the opposite, they might actually go somewhere instead of in a circle. This was exactly where he left off, it was kind of ridiculous. He saw the tree that he had wiped his hand off earlier before, the section dyed a dark red by now. He huffed out a sigh, turning and starting back the way he hoped was the correct way. But immediately, he tripped forward, Ludi flying out of his arms as he slammed into the ground.
The cat landed on her feet, of course, but the same could not be said for Hiccup. The boy picked himself up off the ground, spitting out clumps of grass that had managed to smash into his mouth. Ludi trotted over to stand beside his feet as he got up, and Hiccup glared down at the ground, wondering what had caused him to trip like that. Something on the ground caught his eye, and he immediately dropped to his knees, having to lean down low to get a sense of what it was.
It was an animal track. He was so busy worrying about Nightflight, he had forgotten to take into consideration the possibility of there being something else on the island. He'd never heard anything before now, never seen anything move in the bushes. But it seemed like the island was getting more and more dangerous than what he'd originally thought the more he walked on. He should have just stayed back by the makeshift camp, he thought dully, glancing back through the foliage. But going back would mean this would all be for nothing, there was no way he was going to give up and go back.
Ludi leaned close to the print, sniffing it rather noisily. Hiccup was about to push himself up, when the cat straightened, ears flicking back and forth as she shuffled her paws. Just like she had been doing at this spot before. She'd seemed nervous, but Hiccup didn't really pay much attention to it back then. He wasn't about to do it again, when suddenly, he took a better look at the picture. It was more than one animal print, there was a lot of them, smudged away in the ground so much that they were almost invisible. They were all heading the way they'd gone, and Hiccup slowly raised his eyes to the red spot on the tree, a nasty feeling growing in his stomach as his thoughts started to race.
He turned to his shoulder, an almost accusing look on his face. It was still bleeding. Not as much, after all this time, but he had been bleeding bad before. Whatever these tracks belonged to could have followed them. How long did it follow them? Or was it still after them? The thought formed a lump in his throat, and he instinctively reached out to Ludi, whether to comfort himself or to keep her out of harm's way. A little bit of both, maybe. The cat leapt into him easily, seeing that something was wrong. Her ears were flicking a little faster now, and a strange look was coming over her face. Hiccup's heart rammed against his chest heavily, and he jumped to his feet as there was a small noise of a twig snapping behind him.
He swirled around, tightening his hold on Ludi and forcing himself forward as fast as he could. He ran and stumbled, blood pulsing in his ears as he heard a sudden round of barking screeching behind him. He quickened his pace, sprinting as fast as he could possibly manage with his fake leg. Ludi jostled in his arms, but only clung to him harder, tucking her nose under his elbow and hiding from the scene. Her fur was bushed up to make her look twice her size, she'd never been this stunned before. Other than in the cave, she'd never really had a reason to be scared. But now, she looked ready to drop dead.
A thrumming of many paws were gaining on him, he wasn't going fast enough. He started to panic, gasping for air and trying to drink in enough to fill his lungs. He risked a glance behind him, an obvious mistake. They were wild dogs, about three or four of them, all gaining on him. The shoot of fear sweeping through him did enough to speed him up a little bit, putting a little more distance between them. He had no idea how to get out of this one. He'd heard dogs howling in Berk's woods sometimes, but he'd never come into contact with any of them. They didn't bother them, and vice versa. These must have been a different kind, cause they were sure as heck bothering him now.
His heart was going to jump right out of his chest, and he was already starting to slow, he could feel his legs starting to drag behind him. He didn't remember the last time he slept, and it was starting to show. As the fear's effect slowly melted off, he couldn't be as fast. Ludi stirred in his arms, and Hiccup's heart gave a painful tug for the cat. Was this the end of the line? With his injured shoulder, he didn't know the probability of him being able to fight them off with his little knife. It wasn't much of a fair fight, him against three other opponents. Let alone three wild animals. The only thing he could face three of and possibly win would be Fishlegs, and that sadly wasn't the case here.
He veered off to the right, hoping to through them off long enough to make it up a tree or something. It was the most he could do right now, and he had to keep Ludi in mind. She was a good climber, she'd be out of harm's way this way. Hiccup might take longer to get up there, but he'd make it in time. He was formulating the plan in his mind, and wasn't looking where he was going, tripping over a tree root poking out of the ground and immediately flying forward. This was the second time he'd tripped in an hour, it was like he was going for some sort of record.
But there was something there to catch him this time. Hiccup slammed into something nearly hard as a rock, slamming into the ground and rubbing his head with a wounded expression. He opened his eyes with a grimace, only to widen them once more. Nightflight stood, looming over him, looking utterly confused. He didn't think that she knew it was him yet, but she was slowly coming to that conclusion. She smelled the air a moment before fury overcame her face, opening her mouth to let out what was surely an ear-splitting roar. But the dogs cut her off, Nightflight's expression changing to something close to fear as they exploded into the clearing. Hiccup immediately grabbed Ludi, pushing himself rapidly so that they were behind Nightflight. A poor hiding spot at best.
Ludi dove for cover behind Hiccup, curling into a tight ball and staying that way, refusing to come out of her shell. He finally had a chance to sit down, and yet he was stiff as a board. Nightflight had took her stance, crouching low to the ground as she growled at the dogs, who had formed a semi-circle around her. Her head swung from side to side as she tried to figure out what was going on, and for once, Hiccup cured the way that she couldn't see. Between him and her, there wasn't a lot to work with. This was a losing battle from the start. It always had been, really.
The first dog lashed forward, managing to slash Nightflight's cheek before hopping away. The dragon roared with anger, whirling around to face the direction it had come from. Another dog took its chance, repeating the movement on the other side of her face. Hiccup watched with a sinking heart as the dragon whirled back and forth, unable to pinpoint the exact attacker before they could strike. He'd been able to see the way she fought before, with her eyesight perfectly clear. And it was nowhere near as bad as this. She was losing, and it would take NO time at all for her to give up. And when she gave up, Hiccup would one: have to face the dogs himself, and two: be stuck on this island forever because his mode of transportation was gone. Neither of which he was too keen on doing, as a matter of fact.
The dogs were just playing with her by now, dancing in and out of her meager slice of vision she had. Nightflight was roaring obscenities at the animals, getting more and more frustrated as she strained to keep herself moving. Hiccup felt himself leaning forward, watching the dogs carefully, green eyes thoughtful instead of scared now. And right when one of the dogs raised its paw to strike again, Hiccup let out a shrill yell. "Your left!" He snapped, the bark almost coming out as an order. Nightflight must have been desperate or not thinking. She whipped to the left without even thinking or hesitating on it. She swiped her claws out in a massive arc, catching the dog and tossing him to the end of the clearing with an angry blow.
The dog yipped immediately, staggering a moment before turning, streaking away from the dragon with its tail between its legs. Nightflight straightened at the sound, looking both surprised and pleased with her new ground she'd reached. Hiccup blinked as well, stunned. She'd listened to him? Or did she even realize that it WAS him talking? But the thought slipped from his mind as another dog jumped forward, charging for Nightflight from the other side. "Other side!" He yelled urgently, eyes widening as he felt himself lean forward. "It's on your right!"
Nightflight immediately twisted, lashing forward at the very last moment and causing the animal to rocket backwards, smashing into a tree and doing a full flip before dropping onto the ground in a heap. It shot to its feet, limping away rapidly as it howled and whine pathetically. It was only then that Nightflight seemed to realize that she wasn't doing this good on her own. She stiffened for a moment, and Hiccup immediately regretted even saying anything. She might not have noticed him if he'd just learned to keep his mouth shut.
Nightflight whirled around, seething with the utmost fury as she leaned over him .Hiccup immediately dug his nails into the ground, eyes widening as he leaned backwards, trying to make himself look as small as possible. Maybe she wouldn't notice him if he was shrunk into nothing. He felt Ludi curl against tighter against his back, burying her face into his clothes as her ears flattened. He pressed back on her slightly, trying to give her a little comfort, but she didn't respond to his touch. He gritted his teeth together tightly, wincing slightly as he tried to meet Nightflight's scarred eyes.
"What do you think you're doing?" She roared, making Hiccup flinch backwards as though slapped. Hiccup opened his mouth to try and say something, but Nightflight jerked forward, causing the boy to leap back, falling backwards and squashing Ludi down to the ground underneath his back. The cat stirred, trying to wriggle out from underneath Hiccup and take her own stand beside him. Immediately, Hiccup flattened himself down as hard as he could, trying not to squash her in the process. Ludi buckled, pinned against the ground and unable to get herself up underneath his weight. He wouldn't let her come into sight if he could help it, Nightflight knew who took her sight away.
"I tell you that I'm going to kill you, I give you a chance to run, and you FOLLOW ME?" The dragon screeched, wings flying out at her sides, blocking the rest of the moon with it. "Are you- are you MENTAL OR SOMETHING?" Hiccup closed his eyes away from the volume, grimacing as he did so. "You took everything away from me! You have everything in the world that I would want and you're so quick to throw it all away!?" Hiccup relaxed slightly a moment, letting his guard down as his eyes rounded with confusion. Nightflight swept on quickly, though, anger clouding her once-hurt expression. "You don't even deserve to live with what you have! You aren't even sensible enough to cherish it!" She bared her teeth a moment before raising her paw, claws glinting in the harsh light of the moon overhead. She prepared to bring it down on Hiccup's head, and the teen froze, eyes growing to be ten times their normal size. He opened his mouth, stuttering for a moment before he finally got his words out.
"STOP!" He screeched, muscles tensing where he was on the ground.
Nightflight snarled out a reply. "I've waited too long to stop now!" She snapped, venom thick in her words. "No amount of groveling will even-" She broke off abruptly as Hiccup suddenly vanished. The boy had managed to pry himself away from her, on his feet now as he jumped forward, fake leg screaming in protest as he did so. Ludi yowled after him, looking stunned as she pushed herself up clumsily. She stared after Hiccup with wide eyes, waiting for him to turn around and come back for her, and not to leave her here with this dragon. But then she saw the real picture, letting out another, much more wailing cry as her ears flattened to either sides of her head. She sounded so shocked that Nightflight couldn't resist in turning towards where Hiccup had gone, narrowing her eyes as she tried to see more clearly instead of just the blurs she managed to squint at.
Hiccup's heartbeat raced in his eyes as he dashed forward, and he thought that he would be too late at first. His legs wouldn't move as fast as he wanted them to, the nagging doubts in his mind dragging them behind his mind. But he pushed himself off the ground and closed his eyes. He knew what he was doing, if it didn't seem like he did. The remaining wild dog, which had stayed on the sidelines throughout Hiccup and Nightflight's confrontation. But it had started to charge forward moments ago, this was all Hiccup could do to try and keep Nightflight safe. The thing collided against him, both boy and dog slamming into the ground and rolling back and forth. Hiccup's forehead creased through the pain, trying to throw the thing off of him, but it was too hard to do as the creature's claws rained hard blows down on him. The thing was latched on him, and Hiccup let out a pained cry, regretting his rash decision immensely.
Ludi was squalling where she sat, flailing around as she hopped back and forth. She made forward movements, as though to dash over and help Hiccup, but she held back, knowing the boy would be cross with her if she tried to put herself in any more danger than she already had. Nightflight gasped sharply, a growl ripping through her throat for a heartbeat before bounding forward, raising her claws once more and snapping the dog off of Hiccup, who continued to roll on the ground for a minute or two before crashing into a tree, earning him a muffled yelp of pain. Nightflight gave the dog a more than harsh bite on his shoulder, but that was all she could do before he managed to wriggle away from her, racing back into the forest. She couldn't follow it, she would get lost in a matter of seconds.
Instead, she whipped around to look furiously at Hiccup, who was struggling to his hands and knees shakily, wincing as he did so. The dragon stormed forward, raging by now. "You think this is a game!?" She howled, Hiccup closing his eyes as he crouched on the ground, not even trying to get up anymore. "You think that if you do enough good deeds, I'll suddenly just fall in love with you and forget everything else that happened before now? You STOLE Toothless from me! Me and him were meant to be together, and it would have been perfect if YOU hadn't decided to show up! You ruined my life, and you don't even care about it!" She seemed drained suddenly, hurt showing in every single feature of her face. "He was with me…and…he cared about me…and you ruined it. You ruined everything."
Hiccup raised his head, green eyes meeting her own saddened ones. "I understand now." He wheezed. Blood trickled down from his forehead, clouding his eyesight, and for a moment, Hiccup felt blinded himself. "You and me are more alike than I thought." Nightflight started at this, looking almost offended, but he moved on, giving her no chance to reply. "We've both lost somebody we loved." Nightflight blinked, caught off-guard by the sudden thick of sadness that entered his voice. "But we don't have to do this." Hiccup pressed, Nightflight putting her guard up once more as she scowled. "Toothless isn't somebody to be OWNED, Nightflight. He's my best friend, and I'm sure that if you would have known that from the start, you two would have been the same."
"Don't try to turn this on me, this is all your fault." She snarled.
"Yeah, maybe it is." Hiccup said thinly. "But it's your's too. You wanted to punish me for something I didn't do, and look where we are now. We're stranded on an island in the middle of nowhere." Nightflight did not snap anything back at him, but her frown increased considerably. "Berk is going to be destroyed, we're going to die here, and there's nothing that we can do about it, right?" Nightflight did not reply, so Hiccup went on. "But we CAN. Nightflight, Berk is a wonderful place. And I'm sure if you just let me-"
"Forget it!" Nightflight screeched, Hiccup snapping his mouth closed at the sudden volume. "I'M not becoming a plaything for the humans! My grudge is with you! It always has been! I'll tear off my own wings before I help you at all! You or any of your other humans! They capture dragons and force them to stay with them on the island! They make them into work labors, and pets! The entire ways of the dragon are deprived from them there! And I would rather be caught dead than on that miserable excuse for an island!" Hiccup gritted his teeth as this, and he found anger fueling his words now.
"It's not anything like that! Dragons and humans were meant to live together, I was the one who showed everybody that! Toothless and I showed everybody that dragons can still be dragons without all this war between us! On Berk, dragons HELP humans, and we never demand anything in repay for it! The reward is the closeness that's between a person and their dragon, something so large that nobody could ever take it away from them!" His heart tore at this, thinking of Toothless. Was he thinking about him now? Was he worried? Hiccup looked at Nightflight with new eyes for a moment before adding quietly, "And we're never alone there."
She flinched, as if Hiccup had just slapped her across the face. She growled, and gathered herself, looking ready to tear his head off. But then Ludi finally broke free of herself, racing over and skidding to a stop in front of Hiccup, glaring bravely up at Nightflight. The dragon and the cat met eyes, and Ludi bared her little teeth, bushing her fur out every which way to look much more threatening. Her claws slid out, and she held a challenge in her blue orbs, no matter the way that she was clearly outsized. Hiccup braced himself to knock her to side, clear from any kind of damage. But Nightflight halted, surprisingly, lowering her paw and looked at Ludi like she had just turned into a fruit.
Silence weighed in the clearing for a moment, the only sound was a distant rumble of thunder a ways away. But then Nightflight turned, ducking her head and shutting her eyes softly. When she spoke, she sounded much older, more worn out. "Leave." She sighed, curling her tail tightly around herself and shuffling her paws closer to her stomach. She looked like she was trying to curl into a turtle shell, to hide from everything. When Hiccup didn't move, she repeated the word, a little bit more firmly now. "Leave." She hesitated a moment before mumbling, voice cracking somewhat. "Please."
Hiccup pushed himself up, new wounds stretching painfully against his skin. He picked up Ludi, holding her tightly a moment and leaning down to plant a small kiss on the crown of her little head. He breathed out a small thank-you to her, not loud, but fervent. Ludi purred in reply, still eyeing Nightflight with a warning look. For her attitude, Ludi could have been ten million times bigger than the dragon. Hiccup was about to leave before he turned, looking at Nightflight sadly for a moment. "…You'll be alright?" He asked, the words tumbling out of his mouth before he could stop them.
But Nightflight didn't even twitch with anger. "I think I will be." She whispered.
Hiccup hesitated, but then nodded. "And Nightflight…" He said, pausing a moment as he tried to grope for the words he needed. The dragon turned slowly, green locking with green. The unspoken words in her eyes were enough for Hiccup, and he looked down at himself, at the new bloodstains that were joining the old ones on his clothes. "Don't think you aren't worth it." He said, meeting her eyes again, which rounded slightly with surprise. "…Cause I think you really are a good person underneath. Maybe you just have to let it show a bit more."
Nightflight's mouth hung open, Hiccup decided he was pushing the envelope. Turning, he walked back the way he'd come, feeling much safer than he had a few hours ago. And as he walked back, the first few raindrops began to fall, slowly picking up into a downpour as he got back to their starting point. Rather than finding shelter, he stood on the shore of the beach, eyes sad as he looked across the murky water. "I hope this gets to Berk." He murmured, ducking his head as he spoke. As he said the words, he could almost hear the crackle of flames. See their orange glow flickering behind his eyelids.
"Mistyeyes…Toothless." He whispered, opening his eyes and looking across the water once more. "I'll be home soon."
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A/N: PLEASE REVIEW! I really liked this chapter, I don't know why. It connected ^^
Tell me what ya think! ^^