-Wounded-

I woke up and I was alone in the middle of the village. Snowshadow wasn't next to me. The humans must have brought her into the house. I got up and sniffed them out. Snowshadow was in Hiccup's house, along with Storm. I walked through the door and saw Hiccup sitting at the table with a sad look on his face. Astrid was next to him with the same look. I rushed upstairs. I saw Storm on the bed asleep, and Snowshadow on the floor also asleep. I noticed that Snowshadow was different somehow. I moved closer and realized her right wing was missing. I gasped. I backed away from her. I wasn't able to handle the truth-Snowshadow's wing was gone, and it wouldn't come back. The one time she flies with Storm, she gets hurt. I saw Storm fidgeting on the bed. I walked over and sniffed her. She didn't smell sick, so she must have been okay. She slowly opened her eyes. ''Where am I?'' she asked. ''You're back home.'' She looked at me and smiled. Thanks Toothless. I nodded. She got up slowly from the bed. Where's Snowshadow? I can't sense her. she asked in my head. ''She's unconscious. She's over there.'' I pointed to her on the ground at the foot of the bed. She got up slowly, because her arm was still in pain. Her legs weren't too wobbly, but that's when I noticed her right arm. There was no arm, just like Snowshadow's wing. I followed her to Snowshadow. I know Ricket said it's not my fault, but how can't it? I whined. Storm turned to me and used her good arm to pat me on the forehead. Then she sat down next to Snowshadow. Storm closed her eyes and touched Snowshadow. After a few moments, Snowshadow started to move. Storm opened her eyes and waited. Snowshadow's eyes were still closed, but she was regaining consciousness. She opened her eyes. She stood up quickly, but once she stood up, the weight on one side of her body caused her to fall back down. ''Where am I? Why can't I get up?'' she asked scared. You're in my house. You can't get up because there's more weight on the left side of your body. Snowshadow looked confused. You broke your right wing when we landed, and daddy had to fix it. Snowshadow tried getting up again, but to no avail. You saved my life. ''I did?'' Snowshadow asked. Storm and I nodded. ''If you hadn't had wrapped your wings around her… she could've been killed.'' Snowshadow was shocked. ''I just did what my instincts told me to do.'' She said honestly. ''Those are my instincts. Any other night fury would have protected themselves.'' Storm hugged Snowshadow with her good arm, and left the other one hanging down her side. Let's try getting you on your feet. Storm said. Snowshadow nodded, and she tried getting up. Slowly. Storm commanded. She did so, and soon she was on her feet. She was starting to fall to one side, but Storm kept her from hitting the ground. Snowshadow tried walking, but her weight shifted. She started to fall and Storm tried to stop her, but Storm's strength was almost nothing as they both fell to the ground. I helped them back up. I decided to show Hiccup they were awake. He and Astrid were still sitting there with sad looks on their faces. ''Guys? You know they're all right. Right?'' I knew they couldn't understand me, but it's fun to mess with them. Hiccup looked up. I could tell he saw a gleam in my eye that wasn't surrounded by sadness. ''Astrid. Look at Toothless.'' She looked at me and saw the same thing. ''What is it?'' Hiccup asked. I walked upstairs, and looked back at them before I was at the top. They followed and I waited for them. When they came upstairs, they saw Storm guiding Snowshadow across the room, trying to get her used to the new weight. Then Snowshadow tripped and fell to the ground. Storm gasped in pain as Snowshadow hit the ground. Astrid ran over. ''Are you alright?'' she asked. Storm nodded. Snowshadow was breathing heavily. I walked over with Hiccup. ''It's okay girl. You'll get used to it'' Hiccup said smoothly. I nodded. Snowshadow tried again to get up and go to Storm, but every time she tried ended in failure. Storm couldn't bear her to be in pain anymore. Stop moving Snowshadow! If you keep trying to get up, you'll keep hurting yourself! Storm begged her to stop. She slumped down. She moaned ''I need to get used to it if I'm going to walk.'' But if you keep trying to get up, you'll keep hurting yourself. Just stay here for a couple of days until you can walk. Hiccup will take care of you. ''But I don't want to sit here while you can go outside!'' Snowshadow said annoyed. I'll stay here with you. I won't leave. Snowshadow lifted her head and looked at Storm. ''Thanks. You're the best.'' Storm hugged Snowshadow's head with one arm. Snowshadow purred. ''Hiccup.'' Astrid said. He turned to her. ''When Snowshadow fell, I saw Storm gasp. Is there something I should know about?'' Hiccup turned to me. She was too close to the truth to lie to her. He sighed. ''Me and Storm have been keeping a secret from you. Storm is….. different.'' Astrid had no idea what he was talking about. ''She wasn't the one who named Snowshadow. Toothless was.'' She looked at me confused. ''Did you ever notice Storm talking to herself in the nest with no one else there?'' Hiccup asked. ''Quite frequently actually.'' Astrid responded. ''For one, she's not talking to herself. And two…. she was talking to Toothless and Snowshadow.'' Astrid didn't understand. ''So what. She was little and she had an imagination.'' Hiccup shook his head. ''Watch her Astrid. Maybe ask a question for Snowshadow or Toothless.'' Storm stood up and walked over to me. ''Fine, I will. Toothless.'' I looked into her eyes. ''Why did you hate me so much when we met?'' I had to think. It was awhile back, but then I remembered. ''Because you hurt Hiccup. That was a bad impression. If you hadn't knocked him down, I wouldn't have reacted defensively.'' Storm listened. ''He says it's because you knocked dad down on the ground and he reacted defensively. By knocking him down, you made a bad impression.'' Astrid's eyes opened wide. ''H-How?'' she stuttered. ''I told you that she can understand them. She wouldn't had known that if Toothless didn't tell her.'' Astrid ran up to her daughter. ''All these years and you guys didn't tell me? What about Ricket? Did she know?'' Hiccup shook his head. ''Ricket didn't know until Storm told her in the trench yesterday. We didn't tell you, because you didn't need to know. Oh.. and there's one more thing.'' Astrid listened to him. ''She doesn't need to speak out loud anymore. She can close her eyes and talk to them through her mind.'' Astrid continued to hug Storm. ''Um, Mom! Can you stop squeezing me to death!'' Astrid looked into Storm's eyes. ''I'm sorry.'' Astrid stood up and looked at Hiccup. ''She never wants to be separated from Snowshadow because they share a bond. If one is hurt, so is the other. Storm can sense where Snowshadow is without having to concentrate, and she can kinda read her mind, but only her feelings. It's a little complicated.'' I walked up to Storm ''Tell her that I'm sorry for everything I did the first day of meeting her. I haven't been able to tell her myself, but now I can.'' Storm nodded. ''Toothless says he's sorry for everything he ever did to you on the day you met him.'' Astrid wrapped her arms around my neck. ''There's something I want to tell Hiccup.'' I said. ''He says he wants to say something to dad'' Astrid let go of me and I walked up to Hiccup. ''You probably don't remember the day you lost your leg, but I remember it like it was yesterday.'' Storm repeated the sentence. ''I was watching you as you fell into the inferno, unconscious.'' I let Storm repeat it. ''What no one else knows is that I was putting my life before yours.'' I paused for Storm. ''I either had to choose to protect myself by landing on my feet, or to save you and land on my head.'' Astrid gasped as Storm repeated it. ''As we were falling, I saw a white night fury in the flames.'' ''She was my mate before she was killed by the green death.'' I turned my head away for a second. ''Her name was Snowfire, and she had red eyes.'' I turned my head back. ''I loved her. She was everything to me, and I couldn't save her.'' Astrid came up to me and placed her hand on my head. ''That's why I choose to save Hiccup. Besides my two children and my mother, he was the only other loved one I had.'' Hiccup hugged me. ''Thanks Toothless.'' I blew into his face. ''No, thank you…''

Storm walked out the front door of her house. No one else in the village had seen or heard from Storm in a couple of days. Hiccup didn't tell anyone about her arm. He didn't want her to be sympathized by the whole village. Only him, Astrid, and me knew about it. Snotlout ran over to Storm, Raging Inferno close by. ''Hey Storm! What's up?'' he asked. He hadn't seen her right arm yet. She was turned to the right, so he couldn't see it. Raging Inferno's eyes had spotted it and stopped Snotlout in his tracks. I walked up to Raging Inferno. ''It's okay. Snotlout won't hurt her.'' Raging Inferno looked into my eyes for any sense of uncertainty, but all he saw was complete certainty. ''Fine'' Raging Inferno let Snotlout go and we watched. ''Hiccup didn't say anything about what happened to you, so everyone was worried, but I guess it was nothing. I wonder why Hiccup didn't want to talk about you.'' Snotlout said to himself. Storm looked over to me. Her eyes were sad, but they were still brave. ''Show him.'' I said. ''Who are you talking to?'' Raging Inferno asked. ''Storm.'' Raging Inferno was surprised. ''She can communicate with us, but you mustn't tell any other dragon about this. Got it.'' He nodded. We turned back to Storm and Snotlout. Storm looked at him and said, ''Hiccup had his reasons.'' She turned left to show him her arm. Snotlout crouched down to her height. ''I see why Hiccup didn't want you leaving the house, and why he doesn't want to talk about it.'' Snotlout hugged her softly and then stood up and walked to Raging Inferno. ''Come on Flame, let's go.'' Raging Inferno's nickname was okay to him, since it was similar to his real name. They flew off and only Storm and I were left. "You're just like your father you know.'' I told her. How? ''Your eyes'' I said to her. Dad's eyes are brown, and mine are blue. How does that make them similar? "I don't mean the color. I mean the way your eyes looked when you decided to show Snotlout your arm.'' Really? I nodded. "When your father found out he lost his leg, his eyes were exactly the same as yours were just now.'' Storm looked at her arm then at me. Hiccup walked up beside Storm and put his hand on her shoulder. ''We'd better get go get Snowshadow.'' Storm nodded and went inside. ''Is Snowshadow okay?'' someone said from behind me. I turned to see Starkad. I didn't say a word about Snowshadow to anyone. ''Yes, but she's… different. She's still Snowshadow. It's just that there's something different.'' Starkad was confused. ''You'll see.'' I turned back to the house and waited for Snowshadow. I heard light thumps from inside. Snowshadow was still trying to get used to balancing her body right. Hiccup came out first, followed by Storm. Come on Snowshadow! No one will make fun of you! I heard in my head. Starkad hadn't heard anything, because Storm was in sync with Snowshadow's head, and my head. Snowshadow's head came into view. Her wing was still out of view, so no one could see it. Skylar came running out of nowhere to her friend. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Storm's arm. She turned to Storm and sniffed her. ''It's okay Skylar. I'm still me. My arm's the only thing different.'' Skylar backed away from Storm and then walked to Snowshadow. ''What happened when you crashed? Storm's arm is different now. Did anything happen to you?'' I could see Snowshadow's eyes. They were full of sadness and grief. She walked out of the door. From her left side, you won't notice anything, but from her right, you could easily see that her wing was no longer there. ''What happened?'' Skylar asked startled. ''I broke my wing badly when I landed.'' Skylar was looking at the stub on her right flank, then at Storm's arm. ''Shouldn't Storm be more injured, considering humans have weaker bones?'' Snowshadow looked at me. She wouldn't remember anything, so she wanted me to tell the story. I walked up ''Before they landed, Snowshadow used her body to protect Storm. If she had chosen not to protect her, she would've been alright, but Storm wouldn't be alive right now. Snowshadow saved Storm's life.'' Skylar nuzzled up to Snowshadow ''You're a hero! Just like Toothless!'' I purred. Now that I thought about it… if I had chosen not to protect Hiccup that day, Storm wouldn't be here. ''I'm getting something to eat. I'll come back after I'm done.'' Skylar flew off to get a sheep. Hiccup had left to find Astrid, so that left me, Storm, and Snowshadow. Snowshadow walked slowly towards Starkad, who was next to Skylar eating. Storm and I followed. Starkad looked up from her meal and saw Snowshadow. She ran up to her and started to nuzzle her head. ''I'm so happy to see you're okay!'' I snorted. She looked over at me, and I motioned her over. ''Please don't mention anything about her wing to her. It gets her upset. Okay?'' Starkad nodded. We noticed that Storm and Snowshadow were walking over to us. Storm put her hand on Snowshadow's shoulder as they both walked to Starkad. When they were close enough, Starkad sniffed her. Snowshadow licked her forehead. Starkad didn't want to keep staring at her, so she flew off to the nest. I heard Snowshadow sigh. ''What is it?'' I asked. ''I won't be able to fly without a wing. I'll have to stay on the ground the rest of my life.'' Her face was covered in sorrow. I knew that she loved to fly with Skylar and me, but she couldn't do that anymore. Her wing prevented her. Then I had a thought. I small, tiny, thought. ''I'm going to go find Hiccup.'' I flew away looking for him. I checked the workshop first. He wasn't there. Then I flew to the trench. Surprisingly, he wasn't there either. I could only think of one more place. I looked up at the top of one of the mountains. That's when I saw him. I flew up and landed next to him. ''Hey buddy. What do you want?'' he asked. I whined. He stood up ''What is it?'' I motioned my head to the saddle. ''Okay Toothless.'' He hopped onto my back, and I glided slowly to Snowshadow. Once I landed, I let Hiccup get off. I walked over to Storm. ''I have a crazy, but good idea, and I have to tell Hiccup.'' She nodded. ''Toothless has an idea.'' Hiccup stood in front of me as I spoke. ''I know it's crazy, but I was thinking of you making her a prosthetic wing! Like my tail or your leg.'' Storm said my idea to him, he was a little surprised, but he looked at Storm's missing arm, and Snowshadow's missing wing. ''You're right, it is crazy… but I like it.'' I purred and huddled up next to him. ''I gotta go get started then, huh?'' I let him go to the workshop, while I stayed with Storm and Snowshadow. ''That's a great idea Toothless! Maybe I'll be able to fly after all!''