A/N- Hope you're all enjoying the quick updates, but unfortunately the week is here and I will probably be slowing down again until the next weekend. However, I still like to hear what the readers think, so please review, and all guests remember: I can't reply if you don't sign in! I've had a couple reviews I would have loved to reply to, but they were guests, so I have no way to do so.

In any case, on with the story...

Chapter 15: Time to Explain, Again

I woke up early the next morning and made myself breakfast long before anyone else was up. I was not looking forward to the chaos that was surely to follow soon after the talk, but it was something that needed to be done.

By the time everyone else in my family was having their breakfast, I was completely dressed and sitting in my chair silently. I decided sooner or later it would come into play, so I didn't try to cover up the spiral mark on my forehead. However, my hair did that well enough anyway. It wasn't long, though, before Holly spoke up.

"Hawken, exactly why don't you have your glasses on?" I blinked and looked up, not having been paying attention. "Oh, um, that's, uh part of the story," I said, fidgeting a little. By now everyone was just about done, with breakfast, and my father stood up to carry his plate to the dishwasher. "Well, I think we've all been waiting long enough, Hawken," he said, and my mom and sister nodded in agreement. "It's time you told us just what happened." I sighed and nodded. "Yes, I know. Um, can we go sit in the living room? This may be a while."

After about two minutes, my family was sitting on the big couch, and I was sitting in a chair in the middle of the room. I leaned forward a bit and rubbed my hands together in nervousness. "Okay, the first thing I need to explain is what I found the day I went missing," I began. I pointed out toward my garden. "Over by my garden, see the rocks there?" They nodded. "Well, if you walk out there, there's a sort of, eh, light that can be seen floating above the rocks. When I found it, it was rippling like water, like it wasn't going to be there long. It's as still as stone now, but in any case, I was curious." "So, was it some sort of reflection?" My mom asked. I shook my head." No, not at all. I believe it's a sort of dimensional rip, a hole in space and time. Over the past few days, I have become certain it's God's doing, and I'll explain why in a minute. But of course I was curious, and went through."

My mom nodded in realization. "That would explain why you turned up yesterday in the back yard, but this is a bit hard to believe." I sighed and nodded. "I understand why, but let me continue. What I found on the other side, while exciting, would shock just about anyone. Holly, you'll like this, but as it turns out, there's a movie, of all things, come to life on the other side of the rip." Holly's eyes widened. "What movie?" she asked. I smiled and leaned forward. "A movie with Vikings and flying reptiles. Take a guess." She sat there for a couple moments, confused, but then her eyes lit up. "You mean How to train your Dragon is real?" she practically squealed. I smiled and nodded.

My father was getting a bit frustrated. "That's impossible," he said. "It's bad enough that you disappeared for 5 days and no one knew where you were, but you come back and make up a story like this to get away with it?" I glared at him. "I'm not making it up." "And you expect me to believe that you found your favorite movie on the other side of some sort of crazy time rip?" I nodded, but the shook my head a little bit. "Well, not exactly the movie, a couple years have passed since the first one, but that's beside the point. That world is really there, and I happened to stumble into it."

This time my mother held up her hand. "Do you have any proof of this?" she asked. I gestured out toward the portal. "Well, you can always go take a look for yourself if you like, but yes, I do have other proofs as well." "Like what?" my father asked. I sighed and decided it was time. "I'm amazed none of you have seen it yet, but here goes." I lifted up my hair, revealing the spiral of whitish scales on my forehead.

My parents gasped. "What is that?" my dad asked. "Some sort of rash?" "Hawken, we need to treat that," my mom continued. "It could be dangerous." I shook my head and held up my hands. "No, no, you've got it all wrong. It's not a rash or disease, and there's no way I know of that it's ever coming off. It's part of me." "Where did it come from?" Holly piped up. "A dragon, sort of. It's the mark of a gift I have, a gift set in motion in that world centuries ago by God." My dad frowned. "How does a spiral mark out a gift?" he asked. I lifted up my hair again. "Look closely. What does it look like it's made of?" Everyone leaned forward. "Scales," Holly said. I nodded. "This is going to be a big shock, so please don't freak out," I said, and stood up and moved the chair out of the way.

"Watch closely," I said, and pointed to my eyes. I focused on a picture of my usual form, and watched as colors changed and everything became sharper, depth perception and detail increased as my eyes changed from human to gray and reptilian. My sister gasped, and my mom squealed a bit, while my dad's eyes widened in shock and amazement.. "I'm not done," I said, and focused next on my skin. Colors started changing on my face and arms, as a scale pattern flowed over my skin and became three-dimensional. Next came the claws from my hands, and then I brought on the main changes. First my tail sprouted out, expanding like a hyperactive vine, and the tailfin appeared at the end. Down my back the row of spines appeared, and I raised them to full height. Last of all, I felt my wings sprout and fan out from my back, reaching from one side of the room to the other. "Like I said," I drawled, "I'm not quite the same anymore." "Cool!" Holly yelled.

THUMP!

I looked down at the ground to see my mom on the floor. She had fainted dead away.

"Mom!" I yelled, and bent down to pick her up off the floor. I removed my wings and tail, as well as the claws, and picked her up back on the couch. "What happened to you?" my dad asked from next to me. I looked at him. "I was given a gift, as I said before. Not exactly a normal gift, as you saw, but still," I said. I focused back on my mom, and patted her face, trying to wake her up. "Mom, wake up. Are you in there? Can you hear me? Come on!"

She groaned and lifted her head up. Her hand went to her head, and she opened her eyes. When they focused on me again, my mom yelped and scooted back. I guess I still had the draconic eyes and scales. "What happened to you?" She asked. I let out a breath and sat back in the chair, removing the last of my draconic features. "To tell you that," I said, "I need to continue with the story." My dad pointed at me. "You had better continue. My son disappears for a week and comes back able to do this after supposedly getting lost in a make-believe world? And you claim everything was done by God for reasons unknown? I had better get a good reason why." In nodded. "I know, this is a lot to digest, but that's where the next part of my experience comes in.

"The portal opens just above the cove in the movie, so I explored it a bit. After that, curiosity got the best of me, and I went into the forest on the opposite side of the cove. Dangerous when there are dragons about, I know, but I couldn't help it. Out there, I ran into a dragon unlike anything I had seen, with four wings and light, cream and orange-red colors. This is the strangest part: it was able to speak. As it turned out, she was the previous holder of this gift, so being a dragon, she could turn human, which she did, and explained how I had been uh, chosen for receiving this and she had to give me the gift. So then…"

It took a good two or three hours to lay everything out, to retell everything that had happened to me while I had disappeared. All the while Holly got more and more excited, while my parents became more perplexed and shocked. However, all things considered, they were taking it amazingly well, especially after I had given them such hard proof. Being able to go dragon isn't something every teenage boy is able to do, you know. Finally, my story ended with my perception of my return, and my parents explained what happened at home while I was gone: the police, the search, Holly's reaction, and so on, so forth. I felt guilty after that, but decided it had all turned out for the better in the end.

After they finished, I led everyone out to the time rip/portal/whatever it was, and stopped in front of it. "Look around," I said. "There's nothing at all reflective around here, and the air is what is glowing here." I reached forward and passed my hand through it, and received nervous groans as my hand blurred and began to fade. "So we really do have a portal to a movie in our back yard," my mom stated, now more amazed than anything else.

"You want to see more?" I asked. "Come on then, I'll show you the cove." I grabbed my parent's arms and pulled at them, slowly leading them through. Holly went on her own, excited to see the world of a movie well up on her favorites list. We walked through and stood on the edge of the cove. I stood there, smiling, as my parents looked around, shell-shocked just as I had been. I looked up to see Hiccup and Toothless as well, on their way back to Berk. "Toothless!" Holly yelled, pointing up and jumping up and down excitedly. I laughed. "Maybe I'll introduce you to them one day. Astrid too."

I turned to look back at my mom and dad, who had looked up when Holly had yelled. Their eyes were as wide as saucers. As they stood there, still staring, my dad turned to look at me. "Okay," he said softly, "I think we believe you now."