Happy Friday, everyone! Hope all is well, as usual! Is anyone else feeling the impending doom of end of semester? I certainly am, so I may be a little quieter in the next few weeks. Chappies are still done and ready for posting, it's just finding editing time. I hope my readers in the States have a great Thanksgiving, and keeping in that spirit since I forgot to do this for my own Canadian Thanksgiving, thank you to all my readers, followers, and reviewers for the support.
Chapter Thirty-Three: Myths and Legends
"Remember when I called you crazy? I think you may have overstepped that line and fallen into insanity," Gobber admitted gruffly. Hiccup, hands on his hips, shrugged and smiled.
"Being sane didn't really get my anywhere, anyway," he sighed.
The two men scrutinized the makeshift wing Hiccup had crafted for Stormfly and truth be told, neither of them were sure if it would work. Constructed from leather and metal rods, it seemed to be a much larger version of Toothless' tail. It took Gobber, Hiccup, and Snotlout to drag the monolithic creation outside the forge. Tuffnut had since gone to retrieve Stormfly while Hiccup questioned everything from his blueprints down to the stitches that held the dozens of pieces of leather together.
"Do you think it will work?" Gobber asked.
Hiccup twisted his mouth and rubbed his chin. "I won't know for sure until I know she'll even wear it, but then we'd have to test it and work out the kinks."
Gobber groaned. "This isn't like Toothless, Hiccup," he said, pointing to the wing with his hammer-prosthetic. "If Stormfly falls, she falls hard, when Toothless falls, at least he can slow it down some."
The two men straightened at the sight of Stormfly ascending the hill from the Hangar, trodding behind Tuffnut. Hiccup blinked at the sight of Rose walking next to Tuffnut, laughing and joking with him as Snowdrop hobbled as fast as she could to keep up. Gobber looked to Hiccup suspiciously.
"Are you going to be okay with Rose here?" he asked.
Hiccup gave an uncommitted nod, unsure and nervous. But after their altercations, Rose had actively avoided Hiccup, barely trading words with him. Their last fight in Stoick's chamber had struck a chord within her to a point where Hiccup wanted to both apologize and yet hold his ground. There were still questions he wanted to ask that kept him from deciding. He still had no way of knowing Rose's claim to his bloodline was true, and even if it wasn't, the possibility of villagers finding out would cause a stir. And since having that dream with Astrid a week or two before, Hiccup was torn between seeking advice from Rose or keeping his distance.
Only a few feet from Hiccup, who could care less about their conversation, Tuffnut leaned over and whispered something in Rose's ear. She scoffed and laughed loudly, shoving Tuffnut away bashfully. And Hiccup, in a strange turn of emotion, felt his gut clench. Gobber peered over and furrowed his brow.
"Still mad at the lass?"
Hiccup looked over, deadpan. Gobber sighed.
Rose looked up and must have noticed because she straightened both her face and her shoulders and immediately transitioned from light-hearted to stern. She cleared her throat and Tuffnut, still snorting away, awkwardly resigned himself, giving Rose a little wave before turning and walking away. Hiccup kept his eyes on Rose.
"Are we going to fix Stormfly today?" Snowdrop asked, out of breath, grabbing Hiccup's pants. "Hup? Hello? Hup?"
Hiccup looked down at Snowdrop and forced a smile. "We're going to give it a gallant effort, Terror. Why don't you go stay by the forge and watch."
"Can I help?" Snowdrop asked with a pout. "Please? I want to help!"
"You can help by staying safe, wee thing," Gobber piped in, scooping Snowdrop up with his hammer-clad arm, tickling her belly with the other. "Off to the forge with ye!"
Hiccup was already pulling the wing open on the ground, unclasping the belts that would secure the contraption to the beast. Rose grabbed Stormfly's bridle, whispering to her and calming her.
"You can't stay mad at me forever," she murmured as Hiccup dragged the leather over the ground, unfurling the wing fully.
"I'm trying to not be, I really am," Hiccup mumbled as he dropped the wing.
"I don't believe that," Rose said coldly. "I don't want to talk to you either, but I think my passive-aggressive silent-treatment phase can wait until after we get Astrid back."
He was about to argue – loudly, too – before Gobber returned to them. Rose smirked and returned to Stormfly. "Down, on your side," Rose murmured soothingly. The sudden change of emotion bothered Hiccup more than he wanted it too and he stepped back, fuming. The dragon shifted nervously before tucking in her wing. She kneeled and keeled over, rolling onto her back and croaking in discomfort. "We must move quickly before she grows restless," Rose said, abandoning the bridle. She grabbed Stormfly's wing, scarred and misshapen and brittle, and pulled it open. Hiccup and Gobber dragged the mechanical wing under hers as quick as they could. Hiccup crawled onto the leather wing and grabbed Stormfly's wing, pushing it into one of the open belts.
"Okay, ease her down; Gobber, you fasten the lower pieces and I will fasten the others."
The two men got to work while Rose pushed Stormfly's wing down with all her body weight. The Nadder groaned and thrashed slightly.
"Hurry, she's uncomfortable."
Hiccup bit his lower lip in concentration as he quickly pulled the first belt taught, clicking it into place and tucking the rest of the belt into a loop to hold it. Gobber was having a harder time, what with only having one set of fingers, but he soon managed to fasten his first belt as Hiccup was finishing his third. Rose kept the wing pushed down as Hiccup, one by one, ran and crawled over the leather and metal contraption to secure all twelve of the belts while Gobber resigned himself to holding the Nadder down as she wriggled like a cat being squeezed.
"Okay –"
As soon as Hiccup breathed a sound of completion, Stormfly bolted upright and over, squaking and squealing in anger and discomfort. She threw Hiccup off her violently. He flew forward, a gasp caught in his throat as he careened straight for Rose. Their bodies collided and Rose tumbled back. The pair rolled once, twice, until they came to a shaky halt. Thankfully unhurt, Hiccup jumped to his feet. Rose stayed on the ground holding her face.
"Are you alright?" he asked quickly.
"I'm – I'm fine," she replied. She pulled herself to her feet, a hand covering her mouth. She looked at the palm she used to conceal her lips and found a streak of blood. Little – almost insignificant – from the inside of her lips when Hiccup's body connected with her face. Nothing big, she knew. She closed her hand and threw her thought from her mind, looking straight at Stormfly.
The dragon was panting labouriously. The wing was weighing her down, but she managed to keep it off the ground, only by inches.
It is so heavy, she told Rose.
Rose met Hiccup, who was standing in front of the dragon with hands raised. Gobber had another hand up to help.
"She says it's too heavy," Rose told Hiccup.
Sweat beaded upon Hiccup's forehead. "I tried to make it as light as possible but it still needs someone to pull the levers from the saddle."
He reached up and grabbed her bridle, ducking under her head and climbing up the saddle. Stormfly groaned again.
"Levers?" Rose asked, looking over Stormfly to Hiccup as he fiddled with a lever.
"Stormfly is too weak to open something like this on her own. The most we can expect her to do with her damaged wing is flap it up and down. Opening and closing it fast enough would need some help. So pulling this lever would pull it taught and in."
Hiccup demonstrated, cranking the lever from the wing that rested over Stormfly's neck. Rose and Gobber peered underneath and watched the ropes lining the metal framework pull the outer rods and leather towards Stormfly, folding it.
"And releasing it would push it back out."
Rose stepped back and crossed her arms. "It's… it's not terribly practical."
Hiccup glared at her, dismounting Stormfly. "I didn't make it for racing, Rose. I made it to get her off the ground."
"So what if there is an enemy, something that makes her flee? What if she has to perform a roll? Or dive?"
"If I can figure it out with Toothless, Stormfly's interim rider can, too," he argued.
"Which will be who, exactly?" Rose countered. "That wing is already weighing her down, the weight of five men, and you expect her to carry another?"
"She's right, Hiccup," Gobber admitted. "Who would ride her? Rose here is our lightest rider and even she is too big."
"I haven't thought that far, yet," Hiccup groaned. He shook his head and looked to Stormfly.
I want to fly, Stormfly told Rose as she looked back at Hiccup. I want to find her.
"She wants to fly," Rose reiterated reluctantly.
"Well, she can't," Hiccup spat under his breath. "Not yet. Not today, at least. I need to look at the drawings again, maybe there are some rods that I can strip, but…"
"We all want this to work," Gobber assured him. "We all want to know where our families are. But we have to do it right."
"Aye," Rose agreed. "Let me see your drawings."
"That won't be necessary, thank you," Hiccup said, waving towards her as he started his way back into the forge. "Besides, you have people to get back to."
Rose frowned angrily and Gobber rolled his eyes, grumbling as he grabbed Stormfly's bridle. "Come along, Snowdrop, let's take our Nadder back to the Hangar."
Snowdrop, disheartened and looking at the ground, waddled past Rose as she marched after Hiccup into the forge. By the time Snowdrop and Gobber were on their way, Rose walked behind Hiccup.
"What was that supposed to mean?" she asked loudly.
Hiccup didn't turn, so she grabbed his arm and spun him around.
"You think I'm involved with someone," she seethed.
"I didn't say it, you did," he replied, swatting her away to get back to his work.
"And how is it any of your business?"
Hiccup paused, his hands on his drawing desk, still. He looked over to Rose slowly, looking deep into her eyes, something he had been refusing to do since he betrayed him.
"If you are so adamant that I am your brother," he said quietly, "then you would understand that me being unfavourable towards a possible relationship with Tuffnut means that I am doing so for you. I don't want to fight with you anymore. I don't want to talk anymore, either. But I have to. I can't get my wife back unless I do but now you seem to be set on loathing every moment with me."
Rose scoffed, snapping out of her reverie. "Funny how the tables turn at times like this. You wouldn't even acknowledge my wisdom until I had to smash it into your head over and over. It doesn't change the fact that words were said. And you may think you're doing a great job with what you have, but you can also be ruthless when it comes to your forgiveness."
Hiccup licked his lip and sat in his chair. "I know. You don't have to remind me, I know."
"I'm leaving," she sighed. "I'm going to the Hangar. Not that you care." She moved to leave, storming towards the overcast light outside.
"I had another dream," Hiccup blurted. He didn't mean to entirely, but the words were already out like tiny baby dragons fleeing their mother. Rose stopped at the doorway. She didn't move.
"A dream?" she asked, anger still lingering on her tongue.
"A vision," he added on shakily. "But I don't know what to make of it."
"When?" she asked quietly, her back still turned to him.
"A week ago, maybe longer," he replied. "It felt like the ones I had before. With the Skrill and the Scauldron. Only… completely different."
He placed a blistered hand over his eyes and sighed sleepily, wondering if Rose was still there, still listening. Only when he heard her sit on his drawing table did he feel his shoulders relax slightly.
"How was it different?" she asked.
"Astrid was there."
He looked up to Rose but couldn't read her face. She remained passive, blank almost. She wasn't looking at Hiccup but the ground, in a trance almost.
"Did… she see you? Did she know you were there with her?"
Hiccup blinked. "…She said she could see me. And she started rambling on about where she was… but there are chunks I can't remember, like a dream. She said she was underground somewhere. It's hot. And they have dragons, hundreds of them… I can't really remember anything else."
Rose swallowed audibly and Hiccup noticed. She was pale but her cheeks were flushed.
"Should I believe her?" he asked.
Rose sucked her breath in and held it for a moment. "I think… you should. Definitely."
"But how?"
"Our bond," Rose said with a dry mouth. She closed her eyes. "Our bond. We have been going to the same dreamland."
"My bond is to Toothless," Hiccup said, wonderingly. Rose looked up, her lips in a thin line.
"There's one more piece to the puzzle that I have not told you about," she murmured in response. "Come with me, outside. We'll talk. I'll tell you everything."
Hiccup's face went cold. "I thought you had already been honest with me."
"I have been. I just… wasn't sure how you'd respond."
Rose led the way out of the forge, walking down a side-path towards the forest. She was slow, walking with heavy steps until she made her way towards the cliffs. Neither of the siblings talked to each other. Hiccup had hundreds of questions bumbling about in his brain but for once, he let her lead him away from all other eyes and ears. She eventually stopped at the edge of the cliff and sat among the tall dry grass. She pulled her furry coat around her frame tightly, looking over the ocean. Hiccup sat next to her and watched the waves with her for a few minutes in silence.
"There is a legitimate reason as to why I can't save our father the same way I saved Astrid," she said.
Hiccup remained quiet. He wanted her to speak, he wanted explanation. He knew if he didn't like what she had to say, he could leave. It would be easy. So he was safe.
"When I was bonded to Skyripper, he wasn't sure of what he was doing. He was using a myth as inspiration. The myth of the mother dragon."
"I haven't heard of it…" Hiccup said.
"It's a story only dragons tell, because man cannot believe it."
Hiccup didn't understand.
"The story of the mother dragon is about the creation of all dragons," Rose began. "She used to be the messenger between Valhalla and our world, the only one who could travel the rainbow bridge. She was the only one who could fly there with her massive wings made of precious stones and silks and godly goods that every man craved. They say that at night, you could see the jewels of the webbing of her wings."
"The stars," Hiccup guessed. Rose nodded.
"But one day, she fell in love with a brave soldier, one who could take down empires with a single smile. The gods warned her that humans are mortal and she was not, and she would face heartbreak more painful than flying into a thousand suns."
Rose took a shaky breath before she continued. "The soldier finally fell in battle. He was blinded when one of the gemstones from her wing reflected the daylight into his eyes. She was only watching for a moment before another man stabbed him through with his blade. When he fell, she screamed and killed every man on the battlefield with her mournful cries. They were so loud they split her own throat and killed all save for the man she loved. The gods called from the heavens and begged her to return before she caused more damage. She loved the man too much to let him go and crawled to him desperately. The gods kept calling to her, but she knew in her heart that she could save him."
Hiccup stared at Rose with widened eyes as Rose looked over the waves again.
"She kissed his wounds with her lips wet with the blood from her split throat and there was a sickening crash. The man's wounds closed, but the gate between the gods and the dragons slammed shut. She looked up and could no longer hear the gods' messages to tell man. She was cursed to live on earth with her lover, giving up her magic to protect him through all eternity. She had healed him, but sacrificed all that she was. Heartbroken, she looked down and found her lover had turned into a dragon, only mortal and smaller than herself. Together, they created all the dragons we know of today, and each of them inherited the dragon mother's bond, all because of her sacrifice."
Rose closed her eyes slowly and took another deep breath.
"It's just a story, I like to tell myself," she continued, "but Skyripper used this story as inspiration and it worked. When I came crawling into his cell accidentally, he could smell our shared blood. He knew who you were and what you represented: freedom. At first, he tried to kiss my wounds the way the dragon mother had done, but Skyripper has a violent tone to him, so he bit me. Severely."
She pulled the furs and shirt off her shoulder to remind Hiccup of the scar he was too familiar with. He knew the jagged flesh and pearly marks ran from her shoulder down her back.
"He saved my life, but not without sacrifice. For the gods, there can never be nothing. There always has to be something. So if Skyripper was taking me out of Valhalla's reach, he had to put something of himself in my stead. It created a bond between us that made us stronger, but something broke within him. He became more violent, bloodthirsty. Never towards me, but…"
Rose chose not to continue. Hiccup wanted to put a hand on her shoulder, anything, but he couldn't. He watched her pull her furs back over her shoulder as she gave a small shiver.
"With you, and with Astrid, I had to make similar sacrifices," she said.
"What?" Hiccup asked, sadness inexplicably growing within his chest.
"Between men and dragons, there are four parts of an individual we share." She counted on her fingers one by one. "We all have minds and bodies. Those are the most obvious traits. Beyond that, there are souls and spirits. Commonly mistaken as the same thing, and hard to explain. Like, your soul is what you are and your spirit is how you feel. There are many interpretations."
Hiccup felt his heart cramp painfully, but he kept his eyes fixed on his sister.
"I tried to bond you to Toothless without making a sacrifice, and you almost died for it," she murmured. "So before I left, I focused my entire being into creating this bond. Being vulnerable like that made it possible for the gods to reach out and pluck something of mine in order to leave you be. It fragmented my being."
Hiccup's mouth went dry as the grass around them as he saw tears bead in Rose's eyes.
"I don't regret saving you that night. It has saved your life more times than you would like to admit, and that's what I would expect from such an insurmountable gift. But then there was Astrid. I thought the poison would either target you or our father; both of you could hold off the effects longer than her, whether it be your bond or Stoick's body mass. I never told you how close she was to Valhalla, Hiccup. I never… I saw what she saw as she faded – the endless sky of stars and voices – but somehow, I pulled her back."
"What did that do to you?" Hiccup dared to ask.
"There was another fragmentation," she answered quietly. "Astrid was so far in death that I had to give more in order to save her. Two parts of my being went in her place, hovering in limbo until I die to appease the gods."
"So three of your four aspects… are broken?" Hiccup asked.
"That's why I cannot save our father," Rose replied. "There is nothing I want more than to have him hear me, believe me that I am his daughter. I spent my entire life fighting to get here, to get to you and him, and he can't hear me. He may never wake up. If I were to bond him to another dragon, it would fragment the fourth and final part of myself. You have my spirit. Astrid has my soul and my mind. I only have my body intact, and yet…"
She brought her hand to her lips and felt her gums. When she pulled her hand away, a streak of blood painted her fingertip. "This should have healed within seconds. This is partly why I was still severely injured when you found me. I can no longer heal as quickly as I used to. Such are the prices my dragon name comes with… Spirit Weaver."
The bloody noses, the bruises on her hands, the waning energy… all clear to Hiccup within a single second. He didn't want to believe it, and it seemed impossible to believe, but he couldn't ignore the explanations screaming in his ears. He reached forward and gently grasped Rose's hand, giving it a squeeze. Rose shuddered and swallowed her sadness and fear away, clutching onto Hiccup as if for dear life.
"'Tis a fickle thing when one plays with things she does not quite understand," she admitted. "But I regret nothing, so long as you save her without dying yourself."
She gave Hiccup a smile and sat in the field in silence, looking over the ocean as the sun slowly set behind the waves.
Night fell over Berk quickly, and most went to bed early to beat the cold. Most were nestled in the treetops in their small treehouses, reinforced with furs and small cauldrons of fire to protect the villagers from frostbite. Most slept easily; reestablishing the village in these bizarre ways paired with caring and training hundreds of new wild dragons took the life out of everyone each day. Everyone slept that night.
In the darkness, a figure moved. Slinking under the shadow of complete black, it snuck out of the Great Hall. It slowly and carefully made its way down the hill from the Hall towards the Hangar. It knew there were only two people on watch: one in the sky and one on top of the Great Hall overlooking everything. It knew they wouldn't be able to see it sneak into the Hangar like a little snake. A small bag of items, three layers of clothing, a blanket, and food and water. It was almost too heavy for it to carry, but it wouldn't give up.
The shadowy figure wriggled through a small gap in the Hangar's structure, and it quietly stepped around the slumbering dragons towards Stormfly. The Nadder wasn't sleeping either, and it looked at the figure intensely.
"I packed what I can carry," Snowdrop whispered. "Let's go find my sister."