Chapter 6:
As Ice and Toothless walked into a cave, meanwhile, a couple of miles away, Marko felt a sudden chill run down his spine, and Hiccup noticed this, "Hey, are you OK?," he asked, and Marko just nodded, and muttered, "Must just be the cold."
They had finish sharpening all of Marko's weapons, and when Hiccup had gone to put his apron away, all he saw was an empty work bench and Marko, standing there, and carrying, that Hiccup just noticed, a rather worn and brown backpack. Marko made his way towards the door, turning his head slightly, and asked, "Are you just standing there or are you coming out for a bit of sunshine?" Hiccup smiled, before walking out the door after Marko, and reached into his pocket and lifted a small key out of it, and locked the blacksmiths up for the day.
As they made their way across the village, they were both greeted by several of the Vikings, saying a verbal 'hello' to Hiccup, and a friendly wave of the hand to Marko, which he returned. After a few more minutes of this, they came across a small group of ownerless Nadders and Terrible Terrors. When they were in hearing distance, the Dragons turned around, gave a greeting growl to Hiccup and Marko, to which Marko returned, and Hiccup just stood there, looked confused.
Marko stopped speaking Dragonese and looked at Hiccup, and said, "Oh, I sorry, I'm still not used to translating Dragonese to English, because, well, what's the need when your entire island knows Dragonese?" Hiccup thought it over for a second, and just shrugged his shoulders, and said, "Sure, I'll just head home. See you round, Marko." And with that, Hiccup turned and limped towards his house.
When Hiccup was out of earshot, one of the Nadders that was the closest to Marko, quickly spoke to him, "So, I take it that you're the new arrival that can speak our way?" Marko turned his head to face the Nadders, chuckled, before saying, "If I wasn't, then I wouldn't answer that question, would I?" The other dragons chuckled lightly, but before long, the Nadder hissed at them, shunting them up instantly.
Marko then noticed that one of the Terrors had walked up to his foot, and had started to climb up his leg, and then up his back, before finally stopping on his right shoulder. It then spoke, "So, why actually have you come, to all places, Berk, Mystery?" Marko looked at the Terror, before sighing, "Well, it was the closest island I could think of after what happened there," explained Marko. The Nadders and Terrors squinted their eyes in confusion: they had not heard news coming from Molak.
Before they had a chance to ask him any question, and sighed, and said, "I don't want to talk about it," and they decided just to leave it at that. After a few moments silence, one of the Terrors on the ground said, "Hey, look. Here come Toothless and Ice." Marko's head immediately turned his head to face them, and sure enough, their they were: Ice, her pure white scales shining in the sun, and who had a rather unusually happy look on her face, and Toothless, who seemed to be Ice's shadow, with his midnight black scales, and a sort of mildly shocked look on his face. With a curious look playing across his face, Marko stood up, took the Terrible Terror off his shoulder and put it on the ground, before saying, "Back in a minute, just got to ask them something a minute..."
He then walked over to the two dragons, who had now started to growl to each other lightly, before Marko coughed loudly, making both of them jump slightly. "Um, Ice, can I have a word with Toothless, please? Alone?" Ice looked at Marko for a couple of seconds, but then nodded and nuzzled Toothless' neck, then went to look for something to eat. When she was out of sight, Marko turned to Toothless, and then asked casually, "So, what did you to get up to while me and Hiccup were at the blacksmiths?" Toothless suddenly looked at the ground, and gulped quietly, before saying, "Um, n-n-not much, just...you know, went for a walk in the woods, and you know, nothing special..." Toothless was still looking at the ground went he mumbled something that Marko didn't hear fully.
"I'm sorry, I didn't hear that last part, what did you say?" asked Marko, a hint of ice in his voice. Toothless sighed: it was now or never..., "Ah, alright, alright. OK, don't get angry or anything...but, I think me and Ice are going to be parents." Marko eyes widened, and Toothless waited to see the rest of his reaction. But he didn't do or say anything for the next few minutes. But when he did, it was in an unnaturally high tone that didn't suit Marko, "Well, um, that's, um...quite a shock. Um, I sorry, but I'm going to do something really sissy now, and pass out." He then smiled an unusual grin, before slowly leaning back and, eventually, was lying on the grass, eyes closed, and completely pale.
Toothless was just standing there, wide eyed: he had expected Marko to pass out. Go completely mad, yes, but not pass out...A couple of the Nadders had seen Marko fall to the ground, and a walked towards Toothless, wondering what had happened. "Night Fury, what have you said to Mystery?" Toothless just turned to look at Marko's, still, unmoving body, before facing the Nadders again, before telling them,"Well, I don't know for sure yet, but I think me and Ice are going to be a mother and father." The Nadders just stood there, their jaws hanging open. They then both closed their jaws, before congratulating Toothless. But they didn't notice Astrid and Stormfly coming down from the upper village, and they spotted Marko, just lying there, with Toothless turned around and grunting at two other Nadders. Astrid turned to Stormfly, who just cocked her head in confusion, and they both started to make their way towards the unusual scene that was in front of them.
"Um, Toothless?" asked Astrid, to which Toothless turned around, and looked at her, "Why is Marko just lying there on the ground." But before Toothless could at least try to tell her the reason, there was a large gasp of breath, and they both saw that Marko had his eyes open again, looking around at the girl and the Dragon looking over him. He quickly pulled himself up to his elbows, looked at Astrid, before saying, in his usual voice, "Yes? Can I help you?" Astrid, who now looked slightly taken aback, said, "Why were you lying on the ground, just then?" Marko looked at the ground for a few seconds, thinking, before looking back at Astrid, before saying, "Well, it's not every day that you find out the your rare Dragon becomes mates and he's the father," he finished, pointing at Toothless, who quickly turned away, before muttering, "Yep, here it comes again..." and passing out again. Seriously, this was one WIERD kid...
Astrid looked at Toothless, then at Marko, and then back to Toothless, and then she said, "Toothless? Is he telling the truth? You and Ice are going to have a child?" Toothless looked at her, and tried to tell her, "Well, maybe, maybe not," and Astrid seemed to understand him. She smiled, before turning back to Marko. "Well, what are we going to do with him?" she asked. Toothless looked at Marko, and then at the sky: the sun had just about gone down, and night was setting it. Then Toothless had an idea: if Astrid could put Marko on him back, then he could bring him to Hiccup's house and put him there for the night.
Toothless tried to tell Astrid to put Marko on his back, but it to him a full five minutes to get the message through to Astrid. But when she understood him, she went over to pick Marko up, and with a slight difficulty, picked Marko up and put him on to Toothless' back, so that his legs were hanging off both of Toothless' sides, along with his arms, while his head rested on the back of Toothless' neck. Slowly, as to not make Marko fall off him, Toothless started to make his was to his rider's house, Astrid following beside them, in case Marko did fall off.
By the time they reached Hiccup's house, the torches around the village had been lit and darkness had covered the island like a great blanket. Astrid bid her goodbye to Toothless and made her way home. When she disappeared into the darkness, Toothless scratched on the door for a few minutes, before he heard Hiccup's voice, "Yeah, yeah, I'm coming, bud." After a few minutes wait, Hiccup opened the door and Toothless can trotting in, but when Hiccup closed the door, he noticed that Toothless was carrying Marko on his back. "Um, Tooth, why are you carrying Marko on your back?"
Toothless, not knowing how to explain him being a possible father to Hiccup, just shrugged and leaned against the nearest chair, and, after a few moments wait, Marko slid off his back and sat, awkwardly, on the chair, his left arm hanging over the chair's arm, and his head leaning to his right side. Hiccup, still a little confused about Marko being here, looked at Toothless, who had walked up to him and nudged his arm, looking up at Hiccup, before making his way up the stairs, and, with a final glance at Marko, Hiccupfollowed the Night Fury up the stairs, and into his awaiting bed.