Chapter 3
That night was complete torture for Serenity. Her nightmares were beyond terrifying. She kept seeing herself back in that cave, unable to move. She kept seeing her guardian dragon, Ruby under Hael's command, walking up to her ready to kill. Every time the out come was different. She saw Ruby fight and kill Harmony, her beautiful feathers all over the cave floor soaked in blood. Serenity had to watch the whole thing. She couldn't move, or scream or wake up. It scared her beyond compare. The images kept changing and getting worse. She saw a young kitten in a corner, a dark figure torturing it. It hissed and swiped its paws at the attacker. It was agony to watch this innocent animal defend itself in vain. Then she heard its hart-breaking cries for help. The dark figure picked the kitten up by the neck hide and threw it around over and over. All Serenity could do is watch, with no escape. She realized at some point that the kitten represented her, helpless and alone. And the dark figure was either Hael, the wolves, or bad humans.
It went on for hours, the never ending torture. Then finally she was able to wake up and it was morning. She sat up and burst into tears, disturbed by the nightmares. She wondered if she would ever be at peace. She's been having these nightmares and panic attacks for ten months now, and there was no end in sight. She soon got a hold of herself and left the room. Chris and the dragons were awake already and waiting for her. When they saw her they stood up and Chris hugged her. She felt so much better now they were awake and she didn't feel so alone anymore.
"Are you okay?" Chris asked her.
"No, not really," Serenity said, her voice muffled by his shoulder. "The nightmares are getting worse." Hearing this the dragons came to the conclusion that the experiment didn't work. Chris and Serenity ended their hug when the Berkians came up the hill with Gothi.
"Any improvement?" asked Astrid.
"Nope," Serenity said. "It made things worse, the nightmares got more terrifying."
"Oh that's unfortunate," Hiccup said. Gothi made them all stand back again to see if there was any improvement. The minuet she was alone Serenity started hyperventilating and shaking again. She automatically turned into a bird and flew into the branches of the tree. She perched on a branch where she could still hear what was going on.
"I might have something that could work," said Toothless. "How about she spends the day with us like she used to. That always makes her happy." Re thought for a moment.
"That might work," Aurora said. "She always spoke so highly of the long hours she spent with you guys under this very tree." At that moment Serenity came back, still a bird, and landed on one of Windwalker's back spines.
"How about it Serenity?" Hookfang asked. "You want to spend the day like we used to, under this tree." Serenity considered. She did remember the old days under the apple tree, talking about totally random things. It felt so long ago. She then flew onto Hookfang's snout. She chirped a merry tune. Then she flew onto the ground and turned back into herself.
"Alright," she said. "Those were very good times."
So the vikings left for their daily activities and Chris and the other Draconians flew to Dragon Island to check on Ruby, Harmony, and the children. Serenity sat in her chair, her mind still going over her nightmares. All the Berkian dragons sat in the Dragonnip around her chair, just like old times.
"I wonder if I'll find a mate someday," Toothless said. "Everyone else has found on, except me."
"You'll find someone," Serenity said, starting to sound like her old self again. She stroked his neck, he purred.
"All those times we spent under this tree," Hookfang said. "And I never imagined that there were two of you."
"Two of me what?" Serenity asked.
"Human who was raised by dragons, and could speak our language," Hookfang said.
"Hey yeah," said Meatlug. "How come you never mentioned Chris before?"
"I thought he was dead," Serenity said. "It's painful enough to relive one loss, but even more so to relive two."
"Oh that makes sense," said Barf. "If he had died in that accident, would you still have gotten married."
"Probably not," Serenity said. "Chris was the only human in the world that I loved so much."
"I can only imagine how surprised you would have been if he turned up on the castle doorstep, had our people not been involved," Toothless said. "He probably would have won the Song war, flown home, and given you all quite a shock."
"I would have thought he was a ghost at first," Serenity said.
"Do you believe in ghosts?" Meatlug asked.
"After Chris disappeared I thought, hoped really, that he would come back as a ghost," Serenity said. "I hoped ghosts were real and that both Chris and Ruby would haunt the castle so I could be near them." She leaned in her seat.
"You think he would have stayed at that mountain nest if it hadn't been destroyed?" asked Belch.
"Most likely," said Serenity. "That was his home for ten years."
"Would he still have asked you to marry him?" Stormfly asked.
"I don't know," Serenity said. "He might have asked me to stay in the Draconian Castle and keep myself safe."
"Maybe that nest was meant to be destroyed," Stormfly said. "If it was still standing you might still be alone."
"Yeah and none of that stuff with Hael would have happened," Hookfang blurted out. Serenity cringed and buried her face in her hands.
"Hookfang we were trying to steer her mind away from that," Toothless snapped.
"Oops," said Hookfang. "Sorry." They turned to Serenity, her mind had gone back to her nightmares.
"Are you okay?" Meatlug asked. Serenity was tearing up again.
"Why did that have to happen?" she sobbed. "I never hurt anyone. I don't understand why a dragon would hate me that much." Toothless nuzzled her face.
"You made the assumption that all dragons are good," he said. "And that's just not true. We have our criminals too." Serenity sighed.
"You'll be okay," Toothless said. "I know it was painful."
"You don't know how terrifying it was in that mountain," Serenity said. "I thought I was going to die. I couldn't move at all. Hael kept threatening either me, or one of my family. There was nothing I could do, every time she would leave me alone I thought she was going to go and carry out one of her threats." She started crying harder. Toothless let her cry on him.
"It's okay, It's all over," Toothless said quietly. He thought of a different topic, as he licked her tears away. "Hey I bet Edelweiss is just about ready for dragon riding lessons." Serenity calmed down.
"Yeah, in a year or so," she said. "Black Widow still has a few years before she ready for a rider. Edelweiss will probably learn on Tenor, since he's the same breed."
"That's going to be very exciting," said Stormfly.
"She's already hanging out with the other young dragons," Serenity said, her voice was shaking. "They are pretty good friends."
"Just like you and Chris are," said Barf.
"Yes," Serenity said.
"Do you think she'll get married?"asked Stormfly. "When she's older of course."
"That's up to her," said Serenity. She leaned back into her chair. Toothless laid his head in her lap and she stroked his head.
"Hey how come your hair is shorter?" Hookfang asked.
"Edelweiss kept grabbing it and pulling," Serenity explained. "I cut it so she couldn't grab it anymore, and nor could anyone else."
They talked for several more hours before the dragons' riders called them home. Serenity turned into a bird and flew to Dragon Island. When she got there she landed on the balcony outside her room. She turned back into herself. Windwalker was there dozing off. She woke up.
"How are you doing?" she asked.
"I'm alright," Serenity said, she sat in her deck chair. "But I don't know if my nightmares are over."
"Say, I was wondering if you would help me with something," Windwalker said. "I plan to unlock Harmony's titan wing, and you would be a thing for her to rescue." Serenity looked very nervous. She was very familiar with Windwalker's methods for unlocking a dragon's titan wing. Though no one had been hurt or killed, yet, she knew there was still a good chance.
"You'll be perfectly safe," Windwalker said. "You'll either be rescued by Harmony, or me." Serenity let out a breath she forgot she was holding.
"Well, okay," she said.
"The others are waiting in our sparring arena," Windwalker said. Serenity got back up and Windwalker let her clime on. They flew towards the arena and landed on the edge of it. Harmony was in the middle chained to the ground. The other Draconians were on the sides of the arena. Serenity dismounted, Windwalker could feel her shaking.
"You'll be alright," Windwalker said.
"What do I do?" Serenity asked.
"Just stay there," Windwalker said. She picked up a rope, tied in a noose, that was laying near by and looped it around Serenity. The other end of the rope was tied securely to a tree. Windwalker pulled the noose as tight at she could.
"You okay?" She asked Serenity. The dragon healer nodded, still nervous. "Don't worry. If anything goes wrong and Harmony doesn't activate her titan wing, either Tenor or myself will come get you."
"Okay," said Serenity. Windwalker pushed her to the very edge of the wall of the arena and pushed her over the edge. She dangled several feet over a large fire pit that was ablaze. Then she lit a fire right underneath the rope, slowly burning it apart. Winwalker flew into the arena and turned her attention to Harmony.
"Right, Harmony, your task is to prevent Serenity from falling into the fire," Windwalker said. "You can do that right?"
"Why did you have to bring her into this?" Harmony asked. "She's still recovering from her last near death experience."
"Yeah, I know," Windwalker said. "She's going to need all the help she can get. If you just break the chains you can go get her." Harmony roared in outrage. She pulled on the chains. The other Draconians watch anxiously. Windwalker had assured them Serenity would come out of this fine. Suddenly the rope around Serenity began to break. She started to hyperventilate again.
"Help!" she cried. Harmony tried even harder to break free. Windwalker activated her own titan wing and focused all her energy on Harmony.
"Come on everyone else here has unlocked their titan wing," she taunted. "You're the only one left." The rope broke further. Harmony was desperate now. She put all her strength into breaking out. Then she changed just as the rope broke. Harmony broke the chain with ease and flew up. She managed to catch Serenity just before she hit the flames. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as Serenity was brought safely to the ground. Serenity clutched Harmony, coughing the smoke out of her lungs. The white dragon nuzzled her.
"It's okay, you're safe," she whispered. "I got you." Serenity opened her eyes and shakily stood up. She blinked in surprise when she saw Harmony's new form.
She was no longer all white. Her belly scales were amethyst purple. The horizontal ridges on her underbelly now formed upside down V's. Every other ridge extended the new purple scales in a rib like pattern all down her body. Her horns had grown longer. The whip part of her tail had grown also, and turned amethyst purple. A purple obtuse triangle had appeared under each of her eyes, which went well with her sapphire blue eyes. An amethyst purple arc opened up on her forehead. Harmony's wings looked different from the other Whippertail's titan wings. The edge had turned the same purple as the rest of her, and purple lines extended towards the other edge. The lines made it look like she had the traditional dragon wings.
"Wow, Harmony that's a pretty color," Serenity said. She traced the triangle under the white dragon's left eye. The others ran up to them.
"Great job, both of you," Windwalker said.
"Thank you, Windwalker," Harmony said, shuffling her feathers.
"Whenever you want to activate your titan wing," Windwalker said. "Remember what you felt today. Can you do that?"
"Yes ma'am," Harmony said, feeling so proud of herself. She spread her wings to get a better look at them. It was then that she found an additional characteristic of her titan wing. When her wings hit the sunlight her feathers sparkled like new fallen snow on a sunny day.
"Wow, sparkly," she said. She folded her wings back up Serenity gave her a big hug.
After everyone calmed down from that excitement the adult dragons left to bring their hatchlings in from the tide pools. Serenity and Chris flew up to their room where Edelweiss was taking a nap. The sun was setting. Serenity sat on the bed, she was not looking forward to going to sleep. At that moment all the adult dragons landed on the balcony. Chris and Serenity went outside to see what they wanted.
"Can we help you?" Chris asked.
"I think I may have a way to cure Serenity's paranoia," Aurora said. "But first I must know exactly what it is that she sees in her head." She beaconed to Serenity who stepped forward. Aurora sat on her haunches so she could use her front paws.
"This won't hurt," she said. "But it will be scary." She put her paw on Serenity's forehead. "Close your eyes." Serenity did what she was told. All her nightmares flashed before her eyes and the queen saw everything. She saw all the terrible nightmares of Serenity being paralyzed, unable to do anything while Ruby killed Harmony mercilessly. Aurora also saw the kitten being tortured by a dark entity and knew what it meant. Serenity started panicking.
"Please, make it stop," she whimpered. "I can't take it anymore."
"Stay with me we're, almost through," Aurora said. She could see why the images scared her but she needed to see everything. Serenity began shaking violently. She couldn't escape the nightmares. The images played over and over, getting more and more intense. Finally Aurora let go, but she was still stuck in the images.
"Serenity," she said worried. "Serenity, wake up." She nudged her and Serenity woke up. Aurora hugged her.
"Hey, I'm sorry," she whispered. "I know that was scary but you did good. I saw all I needed. You've had those nightmares for ten months?"
"Yes," Serenity sobbed. "I can't wake up. I'm forced to see those images the whole time. I don't know what to do."
"It's okay," Aurora said.
"What exactly did you see?" Re asked.
"That is not important," said Aurora, as Serenity went back to Chris's side. "What's important is that her mind is full of negative thoughts. They've been there for ten months. Chris will you watch her tonight? If she has nightmares wait for her to wake up, then give her something positive to think about."
"Sure," Chris said. "All night?"
"All night," Aurora confirmed.
"What? no," Serenity protested. "You need sleep."
"Hey," Chis said, putting his finger tips on her mouth to quiet her. "You've been there for all of us and saved thousands of lives. Now let us return the favor." Serenity looked around at all the dragons, and they seemed to agree. She sighed.
"Okay," she said.
"You've never given up on any of us," Tenor said. "Now, we're not giving up on you." Serenity yawned.
"You should get some rest," Aurora said. "Hopefully by tomorrow this will all be over." Chris escorted Serenity back inside. The dragons stayed where they were and talked amongst themselves.
"Would it be so bad to teach her to fight?" Windwalker asked. "You know, defend herself."
"Serenity proves that you don't have to wield a sword or a weapon of any kind, to be a hero," Re said. "And that's one of the things I love about her."
"I suppose you're right," Windwalker said. With that all the dragons turned in for the night.