Tuffnut scanned the skies for their captain, giving an annoied scowl as he did. He lifted one of his long hands to his brow, shading his eyes from the blaring sun before turning his dragon's head farther to the left and squinting. Was that the little viking over there? The shadow in the clouds? "Tuff! What are you doing, you're making us go the wrong way, for Odin's sake!" Ruffnut barked at him over the rush of the wind, breaking his thought train with an ear shattering voice. He grimaced, jerking his head back to his twin and moving his dragon's head closer to her again.
"I was not! You're the one not paying attention to where we're going!" He snapped back, watching the thin girl roll her over sized gray eyes. "Ugh! Why are you so damned immature?! You were pulling his head to the left!" She swatted a hand his way, making the lizard beneath him shake its head and growl in annoyance. "Knock it off, Ruff! I was looking for the fucking kid!" He swung his fist at her, determined to strike her a good blow to the shoulder, but missed. Instead their dragon's knocked heads and began snapping at each other.
Both of them looked down at their scaley mounts, glaring with annoyed eyes before jerking at the reigns simultaneously, ripping the dragon's heads back with screeches of surprise from the beasts. "Knock it off and fly!" They shouted in unison before frowning at each other again, upset they had spoken at the same time. Being twins they were the same entity to the viking village. They weren't supposed to leave each other's sides, simply because that was the way it had always been.
They spoke together, ate together, and used the same gestures as one another. Never had they enjoyed being reminded that they could never be apart. Not because the village would be confused and most likely a little upset, but because they wouldn't survive without each other. In all honesty, they were one single entity; but not a happy one.
A sharp cry made each of them look, their dragon's pulling their heads up at the same time. A blood red blurr fell in front of them, crashing towards the waves below. "Was that...?!" Ruffnut pointed forward, jerking her head towards her twin with terrified eyes. "Hicca!" Tuffnut was on it before Ruffnut was, forcing his half of the Zipple Back down, jerking his sister and her side down with them. "Tuff, wait! We're gonna-!" Ruffnut screeched as her half of the creature yelped, attempting to keep upright in the sky, confused and afraid to let itself fall.
Tuffnut's dragon whipped backwards, screeching at the same time, desperately flapping its own wing to keep itself on the wind current. The Zipple Back may have been of two minds, but it wasn't use to being pulled in different directions at sudden intervals; as the twins were known to do with their poor dragon Snuff and Snort. Their own Zipple Back had become use to the torture, the heads learning to work together when the twins wouldn't; keeping accidents like this from happening.
Ruffnut scrambled to keep hold of her saddle, twisting the reigns around one of her fists as her second hand scrambled for purchase on the smooth leather. She kicked her legs wildly, her fur boots suddenly feeling like led weights. Tuffnut jerked his head up towards his sister, her feet dangling only a few inches above his scowl.
He himself was hanging onto the dragon by his saddled foot, his boot dug into the stirrup and twisted at the ankle to keep himself attached. His side of the Zipple Back was losing its borrowed time on the wind current fast, that he knew. "Ruffnut! Grab the front of the saddle!" He lifted himself up with a grunt, slamming his open palm against her heel, lifting her at least a foot into the air. She yelped, inciting another cry of help from her flailing dragon, but quick reflexes had her grab hold of the edge of the saddle before her mind even understood her brother's command. "Get the damned thing flying straight!"
Tuffnut grunted again, his fingers slipping on the saddle, arm almost tangling in the reigns before he shook it loose. He glanced down at the waves, seeing Hiccup's dragon circling beneath them, Hiccup still fully attached to his saddle and peering up at them. "She's too scared! She's-she's-!" Ruffnut slapped the dragon's neck with the reigns, kicking at is sides as it screeched and pedaled in the air. "Tuffnut! Hang on!" Hiccup called up, kicking the dragon beneath him up towards the twins.
Tuffnut groaned, wincing at his stretched arm as it quivered beneath his frail twin's weight; she may have been "too thin" but she weighed a ton like this. His dragon twisted in the air, the wind giving beneath it and causing the breath to escape Tuffnut's lungs. Suddenly, he felt himself without weight, his mind blank as his eyes widened to see something he couldn't find. Ruffnut came crashing down on top of him, swinging to the side with a scream as the reigns caught her by the arm with a whip-like jerk.
The boy Thorston twin watched as he fell away from his sister, still reaching for her boot, her eyes as wide as his own, a second, but soundless scream escaping her still open lips. His own dragon snapped back up into the air, the relief of his weight allowing it to right itself and begin floating alongside of its other half. Hiccup pushed the Nightmare harder, already releasing the reigns to stand in his saddle and reach for the falling boy. He didn't know how he'd catch a boy that was a hundred times taller than him and ten times heavier, but he did know the blonde wasn't going to fall.
Tuffnut cried out in pain as his foot caught in the saddle, dangling him over the ocean by a single leg for mere seconds. He jerked upwards, reaching for the pained and trapped appendage. Something grazed his back and he whipped his head around, locking eyes with Hiccup as he flew by. "I'll catch you, promise!" The little boy called out, his dragon swooping back around, making him stumble in his stirrups. Tuffnut's leg gave way just as Hiccup bent to reach out to him. "Grab my hand!" The blonde reached for the desperately grasping fingers, their tips just brushing as he fell past. Tuffnut closed his eyes, wishing the pain in his leg would go away before he lost consciousness.