Disclaimer: I may have a sweet life, but it's not sweet enough for me to own How to Train Your Dragon or Voices of Dragons. DreamWorks, Cressida Cowell, and Carrie Vaughn are pretty epic! I have to hand it to them.
Author's Note: Sorry I haven't been writing much lately. I've been busy with school, but it will be over soon and y'all will be able to read to your hearts content. Haha, like anyone's actually touched this fic. If you have, PLEASE let me know! I am desperate for reviews of this since I have been planning this for three months. Thank you and enjoy the chapter!
As Hiccup told Kay his tale of Toothless, Kay learned a lot about Hiccup. She learned that a few years ago, Hiccup had been the mere son of the chief, Stoick the Vast. Berk had detested everything about dragons, for they raided the town frequently, but Hiccup later discovered that it was like the network in a beehive: there was a queen bee, the Green Death it was called, and its workers, the other dragons of Berk. The Vikings fought and fought them. Hiccup was the only one in thousands of years to break the mold of the Viking ways and not kill a dragon that he had caught.
That told Kay much about him. Hiccup was humane. He was not afraid to be different or sharp. He possessed a type of courage that she herself had: they were both able to befriend a dragon. Kay, though, felt that Hiccup's type of friendship with Toothless was far more fascinating and impressive than her own: Hiccup had to figure out Toothless' nature without the use of speech. Kay didn't know what she and Artegal would do if he couldn't talk. Then again, if he couldn't talk, they would not have become friends in the first place. Kay thought that she merely would have been shocked that he had saved her life, ran off, and never come back again. The way Hiccup talked to Toothless surprised Kay, though: it was as if Toothless could actually understand him.
So, in short, Hiccup had saved Berk in the same way that Kay had attempted to save Silver River…just without the epic battle part. Hiccup and his friends all rode into battle with the Green Death on dragons.
When he was finished his story, Kay could only smile at Hiccup. There was an awkward silence in the glade in which Toothless gave Artegal a death stare that Kay found rather unnerving. All she could do was just look at Hiccup and smile.
"What is it?" Hiccup asked awkwardly.
"It's just that… we're a lot alike. That was almost exactly how I tried to save Silver River." she explained, "except for that last bit."
"You mean… you tried it all on your own?" Hiccup asked, confused, "But you said that Jon met Artegal too."
"Well, you started out alone too, didn't you? I tried to get Tam and Jon involved, but it kind of doesn't work when you're halfway across the world. Jon kind of even wanted to be the one sacrificed. I turned him down…" Kay came to a realization, "Maybe I should have, you know, let him get involved…or come with me…" The pain was too much. She couldn't believe how much she missed him all of the sudden. He was the best boyfriend anyone could ever ask for!
Then, Hiccup did something unexpected. He put his hand on Kay's shoulder and wisely said, "I understand. Fighting for what's right really is painful. Trust me, I would know." He paused and looked down at something on him that Kay had failed to notice. He had a metal leg. Kay pieced his story together and thought it must have been from his battle with the Green Death. But he must have had it for years now, so he disregarded it and continued. "I know how hard it is to risk your life and feel like you might not ever see that one special person again."
Kay was stunned. She never hinted to the fact that she and Jon were together! She said, "How did you-"
"Kay, the role he played in your story is the exact same role that my Astrid played in mine. Just by how much Astrid means to me, I can tell how much Jon means to you." By the look in his eyes, Kay could tell that Hiccup knew how much she missed Jon, and she missed him with all her heart.
"I wish he were here," she sighed wistfully. She looked to the amazingly cloudless sky.
"If you really want to save Silver River, you have to do everything you can. Get help. Just Jon is not enough. Get your friend Tam, your mom, anyone else who's willing to help. Find some way to get in touch with them." Hiccup advised. Kay collected herself and nodded. "Is there anything I could do to help?" He asked.
Kay was so grateful for him it wasn't even funny. She smiled at him. "As of now, I'll just concentrate with getting in touch with Jon and Tam back home, formulate plans for them to befriend dragons, and then we can work together to save Silver River."
Artegal said, "Sounds like a good plan," and Hiccup nodded in agreement.
The other thought that had been plaguing Kay's mind since she arrived here was about to come up. "So, out of all the dragons and people I've seen here today," Kay said, "you and Toothless are the only ones who have worked out a complex system of positions that work for your safety and his flight. You're the only one who has a saddle at all! I've attempted to develop a harness, like yours from my rock climbing gear," she explained, pulling a piece of it out of her backpack to make it clearer to Hiccup, "but it doesn't work very well. I've kind of been wondering…"
Kay eased in to this: she wasn't that sure that Toothless liked her. After all, he did growl ferociously the moment they entered the glade. But if she was going to save Silver River and show them that dragons were just like people, she had to be an absolute expert, and since Hiccup was the one around here, she'd have to take some chances. "Could you show me how?"
"Yeah, sure!" Hiccup mounted Toothless, strapped himself into the complex harness, adjusted his prosthetic leg into a gear, and offered to help Kay on to the dragon.
"Wait, are you serious? Right now?" Kay had never flown with any dragon other than Artegal before and she was afraid that it wouldn't end well. She nervously looked at Artegal.
"If you're worried about falling since you won't be as secure as you usually are, I could fly with you." Artegal offered. Kay nodded vigorously.
"Don't worry, Toothless will keep you safe." Hiccup said. Toothless nodded. Kay reached out and took one of Hiccup's rough hands. He had some trouble lifting her up, as he virtually had no upper body strength, so Kay decided to pull herself up mostly.
She sat down on the saddle behind Hiccup. There wasn't much room for her, as this saddle was built a long time ago for only one particularly small person, the preteen Hiccup. Hiccup could tell she was worried about falling off of Toothless.
Before she had even braced herself, Toothless took off. Her stomach lurched in fear and as her first instinct, she hugged Hiccup around the middle to keep from falling. It took her a few minutes to get used to flying on a smaller dragon. It was like riding a small plane that made you feel motion sick. Although Toothless wasn't spinning out of control, it was still different than what she was used to: Artegal was much bigger. Kay checked behind, and there he was. He had no problem whatsoever keeping up with Toothless.
Now that Kay was accustomed to the air and Toothless, she peered behind Hiccup to see what he was doing. He was adjusting his foot in ways that would make Toothless' modified tail be able to fly in different ways. It was like an art unlike anything of which Kay had ever dreamed. This was so great! Toothless took them over the vast sea, up into the clouds, over the beautiful village of Berk, and back to the glade.
Toothless had gotten comfortable with Kay being on his back and began to perform a few tricks, like spinning. Kay laughed with delight. She would never be able to do this on Artegal without retching. This was wonderful! Nothing could ever bring them down!
Then, suddenly, an axe whizzed past Kay's head. "DUCK!" She called to Hiccup. She and Hiccup did so. Toothless began to panic, quit the tricks, and dove for a landing. The dive was extreme and unexpected. Hiccup quickly changed positions of Toothless' makeshift tail every other second. Kay held on for dear life as another axe was thrown at them. They missed it just in the nick of time, landing before it hit anyone in the head. Then Kay heard a roar and a huge burst of fire erupted from Artegal's mouth, unlike any she had ever seen, not even when they were flying away from the military.
Kay saw a familiar figure back away in fear and another blue dragon about the size of Toothless breathe fire back. Hiccup quickly got off Toothless and rushed to the dragon. Somehow, he persuaded it to calm down, and magically, Artegal as well. Kay watched in amazement as he did so. He did this like it was everyday business. Kay could never dream of doing something that bold! Then, once Artegal and the smaller blue dragon had calmed down, Kay realized where she knew the figure from: it was Hiccup's girlfriend, Astrid.