Title: Better
Summary: Hiccup tries to make things better and Toothless isn't having any of it, but when push comes to shove, do they have what it takes to go the distance?
Hiccup wiped his hands on his black cloak. It was Toothless' idea (he claimed wearing a black cloak would heighten dramatic effect, though not in as many words. The exact words he used were "Here. Wear."). His palms were sweating like crazy. He looked around at the crowd around him, pressing in from all sides. The idea of having to perform in front of all of them made him want to throw up. Just a little bit.
He took a shaky breath.
/Are you okay?/ Asked Toothless. The Night Fury landed beside him, creating some breathing room in the otherwise teeming crowd. Slowly, the lightheaded feeling left Hiccup. He patted the dragon's back.
/Hiccup fine./ He replied. Replying in Dragonese earned Hiccup a few curious glances (It was a curious sounding language, and the very devil to learn.), but Hiccup didn't mind.
It was the Festival of the Green Death, a morbid sounding affair, but it was actually to celebrate the day the dragons and the people of Burk found peace. It had been five years, making this the fourth festival. Hiccup looked around.
'I didn't think there would be this many people here.' He thought. People from all tribes had come, some of them with their own dragons.
"Hiccup!" came a cry from somewhere in the crowd. Hiccup saw the crowd parting before he actually saw Camicaze's wild blond hair.
"Camicaze!" He greeted her right back, though he was still a little embarrassed from the whole fight with Toothless he'd had in her house. He had, of course, replaced her door, and the girl had invited him to break more of her furniture.
"I hear you're going to enter the flying competition today! That's a first! But I hope you know you don't stand a chance. Me and Stormfly have been practicing for ages and you don't look like you've practiced at all. I mean, look at you, you look ridiculous! What is with your clothes? Did someone die? Can you—"
"Camicaze, hi!" Fishlegs approached the two them, Horrorcow ambling lazily beside him.
"Hey Fisheggs!" Camicaze said.
"I told you, it's Fishlegs."
Camicaze looked down. "Doesn't look like it to me."
"Hey Guys!" Astrid waved from across the crowd. She swung herself onto her dragon Gunter (Which Hiccup thought was a weird name for a girl dragon, but then he had Toothless, so he wasn't one to cast stones.). The Deadly Nadder hopped over the crowd, stepping on some Vikings who appeared not to mind too much.
As Astrid approached, Snotlout and the Thorston Twins muscled their way through the crowd (Which was starting to get much thinner around them, what with all the dragons so close together) and Hiccup could just see Thuggery coming out from behind a food stall.
Hiccup just sort of basked in the conversation, as his friends chatted among themselves. His friends. It still sounded weird to him! Toothless, on the other hand, was having a grand time, showing off his new tailfin made of shed dragon skin from Stormfly and the flying aide attached to it. Hiccup had made more and more tweaks to it as soon as Toothless became comfortable with the idea. It still wasn't perfect (It would never be perfect to Hiccup, it seemed), and it still didn't compare to having hiccup work the pedals, but it was definitely better than before. Today he had polished it to a bright gleam for the competition.
"Will all the contestants for The Dragon Flying Competition go to the beach now please?" yelled Gobber the Belch at the top of his lungs. Immediately, everyone started walking in the beach's general direction. Everyone wanted to watch.
"That's our cue, Toothless." Hiccup said as he mounted his dragon. His friends did the same and proceeded down to the beach. Truth be told, Hiccup was incredibly nervous. Some of the others had been competing since the beginning, but this was his first competition. The competition was half the dragon's skill and half the rider's which was why they had never entered. Before the flying aide, Hiccup couldn't do a simple standing on the saddle trick. But now he could.
/We shall emerge victorious!/ Toothless crowed, confident. /They won't know what hit them!/
'Nice to know I'm not the only one nervous' Hiccup thought wryly.
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The competition this year was fierce. Astrid, in an incredible display of agility and split-second timing, did backflips on Gunter's back as the dragon corkscrewed through the air. Snotlout rode Firewyrm, his Monstrous Nightmare, bareback, while she was on fire, and he refused to tell anyone how he'd done it. As each contestant performed, Hiccup became more and more nervous.
'What was I thinking?' He sweated. He couldn't even speak to large groups of people, why did he think he could do this? The noise of the cheering was fraying his already raw nerves.
"Come on Toothless, let's get out of here, I don't think I can do this." Hiccup pulled at strap around his dragon's neck, trying to lead him away. But Toothless wasn't listening.
/We're next!/ He cried as the Thorston routine drew to a close. Hiccup swallowed as he mounted Toothless.
The Night Fury took off!, giving a screech that made everyone within earshot shiver. They did a few loop-de-loops to get started, and then corkscrewed in and out of the water. They gained height, and flew over the crowd, showering people with seawater as Toothless shot blue flames into the air. Then they flew back out to sea, and descended to the edge of the beach, creating patterns in the still water first with the tip of Toothless's wing, then the tip of Hiccup's finger as he hung precariously on the saddle's straps. The crowd was going wild.
/Let's finish this!/ Hiccup yelled to Toothless, adrenaline giving him confidence and making him reckless.
Suddenly they were climbing high into the air, Hiccup jumping through rings of fire Toothless made for him. Up they went, higher and higher, almost reaching the clouds. The people at the beach craned their necks to get a better look. The pair gradually slowed, and people saw Hiccup climbing onto his feet.
He stood in the saddle, arms outstretched. And slowly, ever so slowly, he leaned back. The crowd gasped as Hiccup fell away from Toothless. He plummeted towards the water, turning in somersaults, spinning, doing every possible thing you could think of while falling. Let it not be said that anyone fell better than Hiccup.
Toothless, as soon as Hiccup left his saddle, dove. Down to the sea he raced, overtaking Hiccup quickly, entering the water. The crowd held its breath as Hiccup drew near to the water's surface. At that height, the fall could be fatal.
But just as he was about to hit the water, Toothless shot out of it, catching Hiccup in his claws. He threw Hiccup into the air, and looped around so that Hiccup landed on his saddle, Not very steady on his feet, but standing nonetheless. Hiccup sat down as they went back, routine finished, proud of himself and Toothless as they glided back to shore.
In the end, it was Camicaze who won, with Hiccup coming to a close second. He guessed he just couldn't beat someone who could juggle swords her dragon had set on fire while standing on one foot as her dragon changed colors to match the sunset.
"I told you no one else had a chance!" Camicaze yelled over the crowd around them as she gave Hiccup a hard congratulatory slap on the back.
"Didn't doubt it for a second." Hiccup gasped in pain. After accepting the many backslaps, manly handshakes, and a hug from his father, he slipped away to Their Lake, where Toothless was already waiting.
As soon as Hiccupe caught sight of Toothless, he ran to his dragon's side.
"We did it!" Hiccup was still ecstatic at not being dead.
/Did you ever doubt it?/ Toothless asked, amused.
The two them sat there for a while, the wind carrying the sounds of the continuing festival as the stars started coming out on the rare summer night. They spoke not a word, content to sit in companionable silence, the same thought drifting through their heads.
We did great.
N/A: Just an epilogue I thought would be fun to write. I'm thinking of making a sequel to this, but I'm still not entirely sure. What do you think?
As always, thank you for reading, and I would appreciate feedback!
Update: I decided to do a sequel! Please see my profile for a story entitled 'There'