Louis ch. 2

I tossed and turned that night on the hard floor; I was used to a comfy bed, notwood. I had laid out a blanket in an effort to make it feel a little softer, butit didn't work. After an hour or two I gave up on sleeping and whispered,

"Hiccup, are you awake?" He rolled over on his bed and looked down at me.

"Yeah."

"I can't sleep,"

"Neither can I. Come here." He sat up, cross-legged, and moved so I could do the same. When I was up, my friend leaned over and lit a candle on his nightstand, but I'm not sure how. Anyway, the candle was lit, and we stayed up for a while, talking.

"So, why can't you sleep?" I questioned.

"I can't quit thinking."

"About..." I prompted.

"Everything. How you came here, my dad, things like that."

"What happened to him? If you don't mind me asking,"

"It's okay. He was killed by a dragon a few days ago, and just...a lot happened before then."

"I'm listening."

"Okay. Well, there was this crazy guy, named Drago Bludvist, who thought he alone could control dragons. He was builiding this 'dragon army,' or whatever, to try to rule. One of his dragons was an ice-spitting one called a bewilderbeast, but my mom had one too. She had...you should just ask her about it if you want to. Anyway,

"The ice spitter was also pretty much the king of dragons. They had this weird mind-control thing with the other dragons. The alpha made Toothless kill my dad."

"Oh, my God. I'm so sorry."

"I know." He gave me a faint smile. "I'm getting kinda tired. I think I'll try to sleep now."

"Yeah, me too. Good night, Hiccup," I slid off the bed and lay down.

"Good night, Louis." After I covered myself in blankets, I lay still. After maybe five minutes I was asleep.

NEXT MORNING

I woke up to a banging on the roof. I opened my eyes and bolted upright,

forgetting where I was for a second. Hiccup sat up too.

"Morning." He yawned

"Morning, Hiccup. Dammit," I swore under my breath, yawning. The young man

scooted to the edge of his bed and started to strap on his prosthetic.

"Confession," I said.

"Shoot,"

"That leg is freaking badass. I wish I had one," He paused and made a face, and my eyes widened at what I knew he was thinking. "I'm not asking for it, though," I added hurriedly all the while trying to remain casual. He smiled in tolerant understanding.

"I know." He finished putting the leg on, then stood, testing it. He walked over to me and held out a hand. "Here," He helped me stand and I held on to the nightstand. He grabbed my crutches and handed one to me. Once I got them both, he said,

"You head downstairs. My mom's probably already got breakfast done,"

"Aren't you hungry?"

"I don't eat until after our morning flight. But I have to get my leather and mask on. High speeds are really chilling," he turned and pulled a shoulder pad out of a bag near the foot of the bed.

"Alright. Have fun," it took me a minute, but I finally made it down the stairs. Hiccup was right; by the time I got to the kitchen, Valka had breakfast out.

Then again, she could have very well flown to Texas and back before I got down there. Oh, well.

"Morning." Valka looked up to see me hobbling over to her.

"Good morning, Louis." She hugged me, and I tensed up. I wasn't used to hugs; apart from my mom, I didn't get out much. My family was very introverted. Valka pulled away and asked,

"Sorry. Is that okay?"

"Yeah. I'm still getting used to hugs,"

"Well, I should probably warn ya, I'm real friendly. Anyway," she served up a plate of bread and fish and led me over to the table.

"Here. I hope you like fish,"

"Yeah," I lied. I hate fish. But I didn't want to be rude, so I took a bite. I forgot about the mother's touch when it comes to cooking.

"This is really good. Thanks," I took a bite of the bread as the woman sat down.

"So," I swallowed. "Last night, Hiccup and I couldn't sleep, so we talked for a while. He told me about his dad, and I just wanted to let you know I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thank you. I appreciate that," and we ate for the next few minutes in silence.

"Hiccup also mentioned an ice-spitting dragon. He told me to ask you about it if I was curious."

"Ah, yes. The alpha. Well, that story started when Hiccup was only a baby. Twenty years ago, Berk was a land of kill or be killed. We were always being raided by dragons. But I brlieved it was for a good reason. One night, during a raid, I went off to voice my opinion, leaving my son in the cradle. A dragon came into our house to find him. I rushed to protect him, but the beast never really hurt him. He just gave him that scar on his chin, and turned to go. It picked me up and took me to it's fort, where all the dragons took me in like family. Among those, was the alpha. I hope that answers your question,"

"Yeah. Thanks," and I finished eating.

"Where should I put this?"

"In the sink." Was the sad reply.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome." I put the plate in the sink and came back to the table.

"I have questions." Asked Valka suddenly.

"Shoot."

"Why is your hair so short?"

"I used to have this horrible disease. It's called cancer. The medicine I was

taking to fight the disease made me go bald."

"Used to?"

"I don't have it now." I smiled, and got one in return.

"I appreciate that."

"What about your leg?"

"What about it?"

"What happened to it?" The woman gave me an innocent look.

"I had a lot of the cancer in my leg. They couldn't get it out, so they had to

amputate it."

"Anputate?"

"Amputate. It's fancy for cut off. In other words, they cut my calve off."

"Hmmm," she acknowledged what I said without bothering to further the conversation. I took this as my cue to leave.

"Well, I think I'll go walk around for a bit, explore. Thanks for breakfast, it was delicious."

"It wasn't a problem." She dismissed with a wave of her hand.

"I'm gonna go." Standing, I repeated.

"Alright. I'll see you later," and I walked out of the house. I spent about twenty minutes wandering around the village before I saw someone I recognized. I turned and walked in the other direction; he saw me anyway. Why wouldn't he? No viking has metal crutches or fuzz for hair.

"Hey, Louis!" I kept going, now a little faster. "Louis!"

"what do you want?" He just looked at me smugly.

"I was wondering if you wanted to hang out later. I can teach you how to ride

dragons,"

"Sorry, Snotlout. Lou is busy tonight." I heard a voice and saw Fishlegs

standing behind me.

"Yeah," I played along. "Fish wanted to talk about dragons. It seemed pretty interesting," I remembered from yesterday when he wouldn't quit spouting about the creatures.

"Tomorrow, then."

"I'll think about it."

"Awesome." He turned and started to walk off.

"No."

"What?"

"I said I'd think about it, and I did. My answer's no. Come on Fishlegs." I

walked past a gaping Snotlout with Fishlegs at my side. When he was out of earshot, I said,

"Thanks for saving me, Fish,"

"No problem. I've saved Astrid a ton of times before she and Hiccup got

together."

"Hmmm."

"What?"

"What? Oh, I just didn't know they were together, that's all."

"That makes sense. Anyway, I gotta go. I was getting Meatlug some fish, she gets

really hungry."

"Okay. Bye,"

"See ya," and he turned, jogging to a nearby shack.

"Okay, now what?" I asked myself, looking around. When I looked behind me, there was Hiccup, mask and all. He took it off and said,

"Now what, what?"

"Oh, it's nothing. I just don't know what to do," I dismissed with a flourish of a hand.

"Oh. Well, I gotta go to work. I guess I'll see you later,"

"It's fine, I can walk around, maybe hang put with Toothless."

"Okay. Have fun," he went inside the little building next to us.

I turned around and left, trying to get home. When I got there, I went upstairs to find Toothless lying on a large piece of wood. I walked over to the big

dragon and sat, cross-legged, next to him.

"Hey." I got a happy grunt in response.

"You should know that you're the first dragon I've ever met," I slowly put my hand out as if to pet him, and he shoved his head under it.

"You're also my favorite."