How to Train Your Guardian
Chapter Three
"What are you looking at, mate?" Bunny growled at Toothless, shooting the black dragon a glare. Toothless didn't seem to notice the glare, if he had he ignored it, and continued to stare at the Pooka.
They were at the edge of the woods just outside the village. Hiccup had forgotten to tell Bunny and Jack that the village wasn't just any village, but a Viking village. Bunny found it hard to believe the small, skinny boy was a Viking, but he supposed his clothes were a giveaway. Hiccup told Bunny to stay in the forest while he talks to his father, the village chief, as a giant talking rabbit walking through the village may not be taken well. Jack went with the Viking boy while Toothless seemed to have decided to stay behind.
"Oi, stop staring!" Bunny snapped at the dragon.
The dragon made a strange, almost cooing, noise as it took a step toward the giant rabbit. Bunny took a step back. "Listen, mate, I don't know what you're trying to do, but I don't like it. Just bloody cut it out already!" he told Toothless, almost as if he was expecting an answer.
"We're back!" Jack's voice called out as he and Hiccup came toward them. Hiccup looked nervous as he walked toward his dragon and the Pooka.
Bunny turned his attention away from Toothless and tapped his foot. "Well? What'd he say?"
Hiccup scratched the back of his head in a nervous fashion. "It's properly best if you guys stayed away from the village. My dad says that ah the village won't react well to seeing you, Bunny," Hiccup said, unable to meet Bunny's eyes.
"Can't have an angry Viking mob chasing you, now can we?" Jack said with a smirk.
A small shudder went down the Pooka's back, but he hid it from the others. He had been chased by a mob years and years ago; it was not something he wanted to happen again.
"Then where will we be staying?" Bunny asked. He had accepted the fact that they may not be returning home in awhile; they had no clue where they were so his tunnels were pretty useless and they had no snow globe to use to open a portal with. Perhaps the Man in the Moon could help, but he'd have to wait for nightfall to attempt to speak with him.
"There's this cave not far from here you could use for now until something better turns up," Hiccup suggested.
Bunny didn't like caves, he'd much rather spend the night in the open forest but he supposed a cave would be useful if it started raining; Hiccup did say that on Berk it rained a lot. "It'd do," he finally said. He then turned to a smiling Jack and asked, "What about you?"
Jack let out a laugh. "I'm staying with you of course. Who'd else protect you from all the wild dragons?"
Bunny's eye twitched. He could protect himself just fine! Who would even want the winter spirit's help anyway? He sure didn't. "Keep talking mate and you'll be dinner for those dragons," he growled, touching a boomerang with a paw.
Hiccup looked panicked. What was he supposed to do? Were they always like this? He stepped between the two and spoke, "Dragons don't eat people; they eat fish."
Jack and Bunny looked at the Viking; they looked a bit upset that Hiccup interrupted them. Suddenly Jack smiled those teeth that Tooth loved so much and asked, "So I take it you know a lot about dragons?"
Hiccup looked uncomfortable under their stares, but began to relax when Jack smiled at him. "I'm still learning, but yeah I know quite a few things about dragons. My friends and I are writing a book on what we learn about the dragons," he told them.
"We might be here for awhile, so you should show us it sometime," Jack said, grinning. Jack liked Hiccup, he was a good kid and the simple fact that he could ride dragons really interested the winter spirit. He wondered what it'd be like to ride a dragon. The Viking sounded like he had loads of fun and fun was all that Jack was about.
Bunny cleared his throat to get the two's attention. "You should show us this cave you were talking about, kid. It's getting late," he said.
Jack and Hiccup looked toward the sun and first noticed that it was beginning to slide behind the trees as it set. Hiccup chuckled awkwardly and scratched his head in a nervous habit. "Yeah, I guess you're right. It's this way," he said and began to walk further into the forest, Toothless getting up and following.
Bunny and Jack followed and were quickly led to a small cave that was unoccupied by any animals. "Here we are," Hiccup said. "It's not much, but we'll find you something better soon." He looked up at the sun as he slunk lower in the sky. "I should get back to village or my dad will get worried and send out a search party for me."
Bunny nodded and Jack smiled. They said their partings and Hiccup turned to go, but he stopped short when he noticed Toothless wasn't following him. "Come on, bud, we need to get back home. We'll come back tomorrow," he told the dragon.
Toothless looked back at Bunny one more time before slowly he began following his rider back to the village.
Once the two left, Jack settled down, leaning against the stone wall of the cave. He gave a laugh and told the older Guardian, "They seem like a lot fun. That dragon does seem to have taken a liking to you."
Bunny looked over his shoulder at Jack with narrowed eyes. Why isn't Jack more concerned about getting home? They couldn't stay on Berk forever, Easter was in a few months; he had to get back and prepare.
Jack tried a few more times to create conversation, but the Pooka refused to respond as he waited for the moon to come out. Huffing, Jack laid down to go to sleep.
Bunny sighed in relief when he finally heard Jack's breathing even out, he was beginning to think the winter spirit wasn't going to shut up. He stepped out of the mouth of the cave and into a patch of moonlight that had sliced through the trees. The rabbit looked up at the moon and began to talk to it, hoping the Man in the Moon would answer.
The Guardian of Hope talked late into the night, but no one answered him. He kept trying, even though he knew it was useless now. What if Manny wasn't in this moon? What if this was a different moon than the one back home?
Getting frustrated, he started shouting at the moon, demanding that Manny answer him.
A pale blue eye cracked open and watched the desperate Pooka. Jack was just as worried that they would never get home, but he didn't want Bunny to see that. He wanted to be strong for his fellow Guardian. As he watched Bunny, Jack couldn't help but want to get up and hug the fluffy rabbit to comfort him. But Jack knew Bunny didn't respond well to others comforting him, so he stayed where he was and watched.
