Ch19: Make It Work

I don't own HTTYD or what they do with their characters. I can do my own thing with OOC.

Well whatever happened back on the docks of that village definitely proved to me that Hiccup can at least fight to protect himself.

When I reached Hiccup the fight was already over. No the fight was over even before I heard the screams which sent me hauling tail past the buildings and people.

I recognized the person who was in the water because of Hiccup. It was the same human who fought the heavywing back at the human's dragon prison. But how was he even there? According to Hiccup everyone would be stuck back on their land until the frozen waters melted.

Sensing my question Hiccup riding on my back answered me. "Don't worry about what happened back there. It was just a one shot fluke. Really, his being there was a real testament to Viking stubbornness. But I'm surprised that you seemed to remember my uncle from when we fought him in the ring back at Berk, but it seems you do."

'What's an uncle? Is that his name? Weird. But yeah, of course I would remember that guy. I never forget anyone whom I faced off with or threatened me. I also won't forget anyone who threatens you either.' I tell him.

"The only reason Spitlout was their was because he and a few others tried to sail before the ice fully set in. It won't happen again, he was the only one to survive the trip. I don't know what he'll do now but I'm sure he's gonna be pissed. I don't know if I really did or not but I think I really blinded him permanently. Which reminds me, the next village we go to I'll need to see their healer. I'm worried that his tackling me might have done more damage to my body. My wounds are starting to hurt again after that. I also think I'm feeling a bit hotter than before."

'If he really is blind then serves him right. This at least showed us not to take things for granted like a brief delay in your hunt caused by the weather. For now let's hurry out of this territory. We'll be safer once we're clear of the people targeting us, dragon and human alike. We can find others that can patch us up when were safe and gone from here. So do you want to fly for the night or sleep and hit the sky's in the morning?'

"Hey bud it already dark out, what do you say we land and take off tomorrow."

'Alright.'

We fly for a little while longer enjoying the open sky and the rapidly changing scenery. It makes me wonder what we should expect from where we're going. Honestly I've never been very far east. I mostly have been to the lands in the west.

When I first heard about a safe area from the hardtail I wasn't sure what to make of it. Actually even now I have my doubts. All the territories I've ever been to have been strict on outsiders flying in their skies. They just don't want to share with outsiders to their territory. That tension only adds to anything I might do that they don't like.

So is it really true that there is a place that won't hunt me on sight? And would it be a place that would allow me to stay together with Hiccup?

This is what's important. If they don't hunt me, then there's no reason for any Uverworlder to hunt Hiccup for associating with me.

What we need is a place where everyone would just leave us alone. Hiccups only crime is being friends with a perceived enemy.

The idea of leaving this territory hits me with pangs of guilt.

Sure I've been to other war torn territories but this place has it the worst. And I've never left another territory without seeing some kind of change, either due to what I do or new decisions made by that territories royal. I'm usually chased out regardless but at least I see some change that at puts their troubles on pause. Whether it's a lasting peace or not I don't know but there's change.

Theirs where I feel my guilt. I'm leaving this place with no change. No I did change it. I changed Hiccups home for the worse. We caused them to fight each other, turn on each other. They were friends and brothers and we got them to kill each other.

The Uverworlders we freed, it won't be long before their dead by either the humans or the queen. Even if they don't want to they have no choice but to fight for what she wants. Both for a pointless dutiful loyalty to their royalty and for fear of her punishment. But the faster they return with some offering the better chances for them to avoid her punishment.

The situation's unique here with this queen. Most royalty just passively watch and make sure the dragons don't stray too far out of line. But this one actively sends her subjects to die just to satisfy her bottomless hunger.

Normally how it is for other territories is that they stay out of the human's way and the humans stay out of theirs. They fight but those are only privet skirmishes between small groups of humans and the whole of a certain dragon nest. It's usually a massacre for one side. It's not pretty but it at least ends there.

There was one territory that the humans and Uverworlders fought horribly over land that they both needed for what grew there. They made a rough peace, half and half, but at least they're not killing each other on a daily basis.

The Uverworlders here will never know any relief. Not so long as that queen is telling them to attack. It's been like this for nearly three hundred years and she will most likely never change her ways. I don't want to leave things like this, but I can't draw Hiccup into my selfish desire to fix others problems. He has his own problem to handle, he doesn't need more.

"Ok Toothless over there." Hiccup directs me to a nearby land. I fly us down into the forest were we set our camp for the night. Once set up, Hiccup and I went to drawing our own thing, him in his book and me on the snowy ground.

Once I felt my work was done I took a peek at what he was drawing. "Curious? It's not more plans like last night, just doing a little free drawing. Look it's our little dragon convoy from when we escaped." He pointed to the picture that showed the six dragons flying in formation. He did it in great detail but I noted one thing he missed.

'Where are you?' I turn my head to signal confusion. "Just thought that you'd like a little something of those new friends you made. What do you think? Close enough?"

'Not without you in it. The pictures ok and I guess I might miss them just little, but I'd prefer one of us. Look at that you didn't even put my saddle in your picture.'

"You'll defiantly see them again. Say did you know them from before us or did you just meet them their?"

'If we're lucky we won't see them again, next time they'll be attacking us rather than with us. I'm also sure I've never seen them before. It was just a onetime encounter.'

"Well I'm going to sleep. What about you?"

'Of course. Who else are you going to sleep on?'

He set himself on my side and pulls over some fur he got and soon he was in deep in sleep. My sleep was not as deep as his. He wakes me up several times moaning and talking his sleep. He tells painful stories and nightmares I hope soon pass. He's done this ever since we left his home.

Even by days light he still stayed asleep. I let him sleep but when it came close to lunch I went ahead and woke him up. He was slow and hesitant to open his eyes. "Geez, too bright."

'Oh just get up. Eventually we have to move.' I push him to get up. "Ok ok I get it I'm up. I forget, are you always this pushy?"

'Have you always been this lazy in the morning?' I ask him back.

After another fire and some food we brought we sit around crackling flames to keep warm against the cold for a bit it.

Hiccups silent staring at the flames make it obvious that he has something he wants to talk about. He's strangely quiet as he thinks of how to bring up whatever it is he wants to tell me. He's really hesitant to tell me what's on his mind. Usually he just rapid fires out whatever on his mind just to get it out in the open faster.

'Come on buddy what's on your mind?'

"We can't leave yet can we?" He finally talks.

'What are you talking about? We just need to keep flying southeast.'

"I know the plan should just be to leave and not look back, but I don't think we can do that just yet. Something's on my mind. And something's on your mind too. We both still have things that we need to do while we're still here in the Archipelago. Right?"

He is right we do have things that we should be doing before we leave. But it's not something we need take any more risks to do. As much as I want to finish and change things here, it's just not possible. So really there's no point in staying here.

"For me there's something's that I need finish back at Berk. Something I didn't think about until I faced Spitlout and talked to Trader Johan. First theirs someone I owe a lot for helping me when I was being held by Stoic at his house. Remember that other girl that was with us at the cove? Well she helped us out a lot when we were escaping. I promised that I'd pay her back one day and since once we leave the area we won't be back I need to do this now while I have the chance. If what I understood from Spitlout is correct then she's still safe."

'That girl, huh? It not wrong to pay someone back for their help when you get the chance, but you do remember that they'll kill you on sight, right?'

"There's more that I need to do if I get the chance. One of the last things Gobber told me before. Here's the thing, he told me that for years he's been recreating most of my old inventions. He showed me one so I know he was telling me the truth. That means that somewhere in Berk, theirs a stash of all my old weapons, part of my past that I need to destroy. I could just forget about them but their my creations, I need to take responsibility and get rid of them. And there may be something there that I may be able to get, if it exists in the first place that is. It could clear up some of the mysteries I never was told about by Gobber or Stoic."

'If you don't even know if it exists then there's no point of taking the risk to go look for it in a danger zone! And again this brings back to that they-want-you-dead thing.'

"And we have to stop the dragons from attacking."

'Oh yeah your sanity is defiantly in question here. Remember, thousands of dragons, two of us. It's not happening. Not when we don't even know how to stop it.'

That not true. I know a quick method of how to do that. Just kill the queen. The raids would stop, the fighting would lessen, and the two sides would find a balance that would allow them to maybe coexist. For a time at least.

But there is the problem that fighting her is the same as fighting a fortress inside another more cramped fortress. We'd need an army. And what do you know we're both a little short on those at the moment.

But if we could get help from another Territory, it could be done.

"And there's something you want to do as well, right?"

'Yeah, I do want to do something about the queen. Even if it's was just something to slow down her attacks on the humans, that would be fine by me.'

"It'll be tough wouldn't it?"

'Tough? More like near impossible. But I still want to do something. It's the right thing to do.'

"Don't worry bud. Don't forget I got your back. No matter what if we go at it together then I'm sure that between the two of us we can make it work."

He's right. Maybe. If we did work together we could do something about the queen. Maybe Hiccup and I could bury her in her our troublemaking or something. Maybe we don't even need the army, maybe we just need a plan.

Or a weapon. Like say a Hiccup weapon. He knocked me out of the sky with one of them, so maybe he has a weapon or something that could knock out a mountain fortress. A weapon or something that's would be back on Berk.

Blast it he might be right, we may need to go back.

"Don't worry bud, together you can get the girl."

...

Ok, we may not be on the same line of thought here.

"I know I don't have much experience in the girl department. But I sure that between the two of us we can do it somehow."

I don't think we're talking about dragons anymore. "So what do you say buddy. I'll be your wing man. But I don't have wings, you do. So how about your wingless –brother-with wings- helping-in- anyway-he –can-to-get-your-girl man."

You really should never name things.

I look at him totally lost. He notices confused look. "You know that nadder."

'The rainbowscale? What's she got to do with this conversation?'

"Oh come on you don't have to hide it from me. I saw the way you looked at her while we were flying away. Someone's got a dragon crush. I know, I've had that all my life so I recognize it. I've seen other guys with that same longing stare too. Like Fishlegs, he's had a torch for Ruffnutt for years now. So what do you say? Wingless"

'Don't you dare call yourself that again! Where would you even get that idea? I don't have a crush or torch or anything for any possible mate! Where would you get that idea? Was it the Spitlout guy? I'll kill him!'

Now he realizes that I haven't understood his conversation and where he's been getting his ideas.

His answer to my confusion is him pointing to the snowy ground I was drawing at before. I look and look and look.

In horror.

I've been drawing pictures of the rainbowscale the whole time.

"You've been drawing her picture ever since we separated from her that morning. Seriously the beach we first landed on, by the time we left it was nothing but a mess of portraits of her in the snow."

NOOOOO!

I shoot the picture of her I drew and start shaking my head as fast as I can to tell him it's not true.

Sure she that one night she was a hot, sexy, dragon of action. She was all that true but it didn't mean that she could have been my mate! I'm freaking wanted, next time she see me she'll kill me!

Why does that sound so familiar?

No, I just keep shaking my head at him to tell him it wasn't happening.

"You really sure? Cause I think she might have liked you too. But then again what do I know about girls."

No we are just going to forget this conversation in its entirety. We sneak back to Berk (against all logic), we attack the queen (against all logic), and we go south east (logical). That's it.

"Eh fine. But when you do find a girl, know I've got your back bud."

'Yeah sure, but first fix your own mating problems. Then we'll talk, wingman.'

A rustling in the woods ends our conversation and we hear other humans coming our way. 'I think the voice came from over here! Come on hurry Chap!'

'Hey, I'm running as fast as I can! Can't you just wait up for me Shazz?'

'No, just run faster.'

And that's my cue to hide.