Chapter 13

Hiccup peeked into the cage where they had put the red dragon. The dragon growled at him when it saw him. As soon as they had gotten the dragon out of the water it had thrashed out and tried to attack everyone. Even Hiccup hadn't been able to calm it down. It had fought against them and pulled away towards Keila.

The dragon stood over her and wouldn't let anyone near her. Threatening to fire at anyone who got close. In order to get Keila the help she so desperately needed it had taken everyone including Stoick and Gobber to muzzle the beast and get him away from Keila.

Now the dragon glared at him as if he were the most evil being on the face of the earth. The dragon opened its mouth and bared it's flashing white fangs. The dragon had some of the whitest teeth he had ever seen on a dragon. They flashed whenever it opened it's mouth. Hiccup was already prepared for the shot. He dodged it and looked at the dragon calmly.

Hiccup sighed. It seemed the only one the dragon would tolerate was Keila, but she hadn't woken up since they'd pulled her out of the water. She had a terrible fever, and some of her wounds were starting to get infected. The dragon itself was also hurt, its wing was torn, but he wouldn't let anyone near him to fix it. Hiccup absentmindedly made notes in his journal about the dragon's appearance. Trying to figure out the dragon's species had been a distraction for him while his cousin was sick in bed.

"Hiccup! Hiccup!" Astrid landed hastily in the arena.

Hiccup stood up and looked at her inquiringly.

"Keila's fever broke! and Gothi thinks she's about to wake up!"

She had barely finished talking by the time Hiccup took off on Toothless.

Keila cringed at the fevered nightmares that filled her mind. White fire exploding around her. Her parents disappearing beneath the waves. A tree falling on her. Golden eyes glaring at her through the darkness. Teeth piercing her.

She cried out in her sleep and shuddered. Now everything was going dark and she felt as if she was drowning. A voice called out to her.

"Keila! Keila wake up. Come on."

Hiccup stood over Keila with Stoick and the others. Tremors seemed to vibrate through his cousin's body. Hiccup watched her feeling helpless. Thankfully her fever had finally broken, and Hiccup wipe sweat from her face.

Astrid came up behind him and put her arm around his shoulders. "She'll be okay now, don't worry. Gothi said she is going to wake up soon, just be patient."

Hiccup's head drooped. Keila shifted and turned her head to their voices. Hiccup watched her carefully.

She groaned.

Hiccup gasped hoping she was awake. She was heavily bandaged around her torso and the top of her head. Her left arm was in a splint. He worried she was in pain.

"H-Hiccup?" she said his name. It was so quiet he almost thought he'd imagined it, but no she'd definitely said his name.

"Keila!" Hiccup gasped.

Suddenly her whole body tensed and voice shook.

"Hiccup? Hiccup why can't I see you!" She sounded panicked.

Hiccup put his hand on her hand and squeezed it tightly. "Hey, hey calm down it's okay! You've just got bandages over your eyes it's okay!"

Keila lifted her good hand and felt the cloth wrapped around her eyes. When Gothi had examined her, Keila's eyes had been very bloodshot, they almost looked like they were bleeding and really irritated. Gothi made a soothing poultice and wrapped it over Keila's eyes to ease the irritation.

Keila was very anxious to have the bandages off she started to pull at them.

"Wait there Keila, those there bandages have medicine in them give it a little longer." Gobber said. Keila hesitated and then stopped struggling with the bandages.

"How long?" She said softly.

Gothi started to gesture to Gobber and he responded, "Oh, only a another hour or so and it should be fine."

Keila rested her head back down. She didn't want to be in the darkness any longer but she trusted Gothi.

She turned her head towards Hiccup's voice.

"Where am I?" She asked.

"Home," Hiccup answered, "You've been asleep for two days."

"Huh, figures I actually get to sleep for the first time in days and I feel like crap. Hicc could you get me some water or something?"

Astrid jumped up before Hiccup could react. "Here."

Astrid helped Keila find the cup and take a drink.

"Thanks."

"Keila, what happened? We thought that y-you were, that you were dead."

"Son, maybe this should wait..." Stoick murmured. The chief had been quiet, but it was obvious he was relieved.

"No, it's alright Uncle," Keila assured him. "To be honest I not sure of all the details. I was on the cliff watching you guys with that dragon, and then the dragon fell. He was panicking and blowing fire everywhere and he hit the tree. The last I remember seeing was a bright white light and then I think something hit my head, 'cause I blacked out. When I woke up it was really dark. The dragon was there, but that's about it, I-I mean I don't really..."

"So where were you? How did you get there? The dragon didn't hurt you?" Astrid asked excitedly.

"Um, I don't know a cave underwater or something, I'm not entirely sure, and no he actually kinda took care of me. I think he may have saved me, I've got bite-"

"Bite-marks on your side." Hiccup finished, "S-so he saved you, but I don't understand that dragon hasn't really let anyone near it, I wonder why he-"

"He wasn't exactly friendly at first to me either, Hicc, I don't i-it was like he felt obligated to make sure I was okay, I don't know..."

Keila tried to sit up, but winced as her side twinged. "Ow..." she muttered.

"Are you okay? Do you need anything?" Astrid asked.

"I'm fine Astrid really." Keila assured her. She pushed herself up.

She rested her head on the headboard of the bed, despite having slept for two days straight she was exhausted. She heard Gobber moving around.

"Well, we will be back shortly. You rest." He ordered Keila, "And, you lot make sure sure keeps those bandages on for at least a little longer, we want that medicine to do you some good."

Stoick chimed in too, "I have to go too, I've got to help get everything secure. Gothi thinks the storm will be here by tomorrow night."

Stoick pecked Keila on the forehead and her nose scrunched up at his bristly kiss. Hiccup and Astrid watched him go a little surprised at the display of affection. Hiccup smirked he'd never say it, but Stoick had been very worried.

They spent the next hour talking about the last few days. Keila told them about the underwater cave and the dragon. Hiccup and Astrid told her what had happened since she disappeared and since she'd been asleep. Toothless rested his head on the foot of the bed.

Hiccup and Astrid could tell she was antsy to take the bandages off of her eyes, and know they understood why, it had to really mess with your head to not be able to see where you were or anything at all. Eventually Astrid stepped out to check on Stormfly.

Keila tapped her fingers impatiently, "So what happened to the dragon?"

"Huh? We put him in one of the stalls in the arena, he's not too happy about it. It took a lot of work to get him there."

Keila chuckled, "Yeah sounds about right..."

Hiccup considered her for a moment. "Keila you-"

Toothless suddenly started growling cutting him off. Keila could hear people shouting outside.

"What's going on?" Keila asked.

"Just get out of it's way!" someone shouted. There was a crash as something burst through the open front door.

Hiccup yelled and Keila heard claws scraping on the wood floor. Toothless went away from Keila and started growling in warning at the intruder. It was the red dragon and Toothless looked like he was about to pounce.

The growling sound escalated in Keila's ears and she was able to pick out a familiar voice. "It's you isn't it?" She asked, "Leave them alone would you?" The red dragon glanced at Hiccup and Toothless warily but pushed past them to get to Keila.

"Keila he's-"

"It's fine Hiccup." The dragon started sniffing her up and down as if he was checking her out to make sure she was all there. The dragon pressed his nose into her hand and she obliged by rubbing his snout.

Hiccup watched them for a moment and then laughed out loud. "It looks like you found a dragon after all!"

"What?" Keila said stopping and turning her head towards Hiccup, then she started to laugh with him.

"Well then I've had enough of darkness, I gotta see this guy, I'm taking this off!" Keila reached behind her head to find where the bandage was tied. She began to unwrap the bandage and closed her eyes as she did so. She figured it would be best to take it slow seeing as she hadn't seen light in a while.

"Be careful it's a little bright in here, it might hurt your eyes." Hiccup told her. He calmed Toothless and made him go sit away from Keila and her dragon. He watched as she pulled the bandage away. She slowly opened her eyes and looked around. Her eyes looked a little glazed over, but not bloodshot. Hiccup smiled at her. "So how's that?"

She turned to face him, and he immediately could tell something was wrong. Her face read pure panic. Her eyes darted all over the place, not focusing on anything.

"Keila, what is it?" Hiccup rushed forward and put his hands on her shoulders to steady her.

"H-hiccup." Her voice shook,"I-I can't see!"

Hi, Riani here! I hope you are liking the story, I feel like this chapter may have got a bit choppy. SORRY! I'm working on that. Anywho I just wanted to let ya'll know while writing this chapter I had a stroke of GENIUS, and changed some details in chapter 2 to fit my new idea. You don't have to go back, but if you want to...please do! I hope you like what I'm doing, the idea I had will be come evident a little later.