Chapter 4: Some New Dragons
Hiccup POV
It was about the eleventh day since Toothless became human. I needed to figure something out. I couldn't stand her being a human. I missed the real Toothless. But for now, I decided to put up with it.
Me, Toothless, and one of my friends Starkard were in the forest. Starkard did not have a dragon of his own because none of our dragons seemed to like him, so we were looking for another one. I started naming off dragons for him to pick one.
"Thunderdrum, the Skrill, Changewick, Timberjack, Whispering Death." I said.
"Nah. I don't really want a dragon that will kill me as soon as it sees me. What about a Toxic Nightshade?" he asked.
"They only come out at night. And I don't think you're going to want a Scauldrun. What about a…" I never finished.
"Windwalker! Look!" Toothless pointed. I saw a light blue dragon walking towards us. I love those dragons. They are extremely gentle and only eat bugs. If it eats an animal, then it spits it back out. If the animal is dead, it sprays a gas on it that brings it back to life. If the animal is alive, then it just flies away.
"C'mon." I took Starkard's arm and led him closer to the dragon with Toothless following close behind.
The Windwalker was walking on air, as its name suggests. It was just a little above the ground. When we got close to it, it stopped, and leaned its head forward. This one would be easy. I reached out my hand slowly towards its snout. When it came into contact I took Starkard's hand and replaced mine with his. He wasn't afraid. Or at least, he didn't seem like it. The Windwalker stared at Starkard, obviously trusting him.
I had only seen about three Windwalker's in my entire life because they usually walk on air very high above the ground. So this was only my fourth.
"This is amazing." Starkard said. The dragon rumbled. "Did it say something?"
"She said that she's seen you before. And that she picked you out personally from everyone else to be her trainer. But she waited for you to come." I explained.
"It's a girl? Are you sure?" he asked.
"Of course I'm sure, why wouldn't I be?" I raised my eyebrows.
"You thought Toothless was a boy for a long time. But then you found out she was a girl." He said.
"Well, yeah, but I'm absolutely sure this time. I promise she's a girl." I said.
"Good." He said. I glanced at Toothless and quickly looked away when I found her looking back at me. I felt all the blood rush to my face.
Starkard looked back and forth between us with wide eyes. Then he sighed and laughed.
"What's going on here?" He asked.
"What are you talking about?" I said, trying to avoid being caught.
"I saw that! I saw you staring at him." He said to Toothless. "And I saw you look at Cleo and blush! You guys like each other!" he started cracking up. Starkard was only about twelve, and I had just turned sixteen, so he was a bit immature when it came to things like this.
"We're friends, that's all!" Toothless said. Her face was not red, just normal. So she meant what she said. We were just friends, nothing more. She has no idea how much I wish that wasn't true. "Now go ride your dragon or something."
"Fine. You two have fun." He winked. My eyes narrowed. He got on his dragon and rode off. I turned to Toothless.
"Sorry about him. He assumes things before he has all the facts." I chuckled.
"It's fine. Lets go find some more dragons." She said, turning that opposite way. I followed her.
The forest began changing, going into an unfamiliar area I had never been in. it was late afternoon now.
"What are we trying to find?" I asked.
"I don't know. Maybe a Timberjack, or a Thunderdrum. We definitely would want to run into…" She trailed off and stood frozen where she was with wide eyes.
"What?" I asked. She pointed a shaky finger. I looked where it was pointing.
I froze too.
Not even fifty feet away, was a Whispering Death. It was attacking a smaller animal, and began to eat it. I fought the urge to hurl.
Whispering Death's are some of the most dangerous dragons there are. Probably second in line to the original thoughts about the Night Fury. Even more dangerous than the Monstrous Nightmare. The inside of its mouth is lined with razor sharp teeth so it can chew its victims even after it's been swallowed. It has a snakelike body and a neck like a Zippleback's. It can't roar, or even squeak. Only whisper in echoing hisses. It stopped what it was doing and snapped its head up. I stopped breathing.
It's head turned toward us and stared at us. I started hearing whispers. Small voices, not load enough for me to be able to tell what they were saying. I didn't move, didn't even look at Toothless.
"Run." I squeaked. I grabbed Toothless's hand and turned and sprinted back the way we came. The whispering got louder, and I could somewhat understand a voice.
"Running won't help, little Viking boy. You're both going to die." It hissed. Me and Toothless just ran faster. I risked looking behind me. The Whispering Death was getting closer. I had no idea where I was going; I just knew I had to get away from the dragon. I looked over at Toothless and saw that tears were streaming down her face.
I started screaming for help. As loud as I could until my throat burned from running and screaming.
"NO!" I shrieked as Toothless's hand was torn from mine as she tripped and fell. I skidded to a stop and turned around. The dragon was almost on top of her now, its mouth closed instead of open. Toothless stared up fearfully at it. "TOOTHLESS!"
She then did something that completely and totally shocked me. She put her hands out in front of her and fire shot out of them. She started screaming, like it hurt her to do this, as more tears streaked her face. My mouth dropped open. The fire hit the dragon on the chest and knocked it back off of her. She got up and started running back towards me. I didn't have time to ask her what just happened. The dragon was already recovering and standing up.
We started running again, with the dragon close behind us. But finally, when I was about to collapse from running and screaming, I heard an explosion. Well, not so much as an explosion, more of a...actually, I'm not sure what you would call it. I slowed down and looked behind me. I hadn't noticed that we were by a small cliff. My gaze drifted from the cliff to the Whispering Death. Ruffnut and her Zippleback were here, along with Fishlegs. Fishlegs's Gronckle was nowhere to be seen.
"What are you guys doing here?" I shouted over the roar of the Zippleback.
"Saving you and your girlfriend, that's what!" Ruffnut yelled.
"She's not my…" But I was cut off.
"Fishlegs!" Ruffnut screamed. The Whispering Death had Fishlegs wrapped up in its tail in a death grip, squeezing him like a snake would do to their prey. And before I could stop her, Toothless dashed forwards, and while the Whispering Death's head was occupied in keeping the Zippleback away, she jumped up onto the coil of the dragon's tail. Fishlegs couldn't move. His eyeballs were bulging out of his head, and his face was turning blue. His nose was also bleeding a lot.
"Tooth-uh, Cleo!" I yelled, almost calling her Toothless in front of Ruffnut. Toothless did not acknowledge that I had called her. She gripped Fishlegs under what was showing of his arms and pulled. She failed at first, but then she gave another inhumanly strong pull and Fishlegs slid out. He fell to the ground with Toothless. I ran over to them, Ruffnut staying with her Zippleback.
"Is he okay?" She shouted to us.
"I think so!" Toothless said. Fishlegs's color was going back to normal and his breathing was better. By now we were closer to the edge of the cliff.
The Zippleback roared, then blew fire at the Whispering Death. The two heads fought the one, and bit and clawed at its neck. The tail that had been coiled up was now loose and flailing around in the air.
"Hiccup!" Toothless screamed. I was too late to notice the Whispering Death's tail come straight at us above the ground so it didn't hit Fishlegs. Toothless grabbed my hand before we went flying over the edge of the cliff.
Toothless POV
It was me. I did it.
I killed Hiccup's mom.
As soon as that dragon's tail hit us, the only thing that came to mind was Hiccup's mom. I had an exact mental picture of what she looked like. She looked exactly as Hiccup had described her. Everything that happened on that night came flooding back. I remember being a small hatchling at the time. I didn't know what I was doing because my mother abandoned me. Every Night Fury's parents do. That's why there is only one in each nest.
When I say small hatchling, I guess I'm not being honest. I wasn't small. I was about the size I am now, because dragons grow to their normal size within days of being alive. I was wandering around, and I started hearing noises. Rustling in the bushes, and muttering. I didn't know what it was, so I acted on defense. When the human female came into view, she stopped and stared at me. Her hand went towards something sharp and shiny on her side. That's when I attacked. She screamed and I roared. I had killed her as soon as I jumped on her by crushing her spine. But I had wanted to make sure she would never move again. I blew a fireball at her still body on the ground.
Guilt feels horrible. You might feel guilty for doing something stupid, like loosing something you weren't supposed to take your eyes off of, or hurting a friend. But killing someone is a whole different story. Especially when it's the mom of the person you're in love with.
I didn't know. But I still did it.
I killed Hiccup's mom.
I woke up before he did. On a small landing that led into a cave. It was blurry again, stupid human eyes. My head was throbbing. I didn't sit up. I glanced and saw Hiccup's hand in mine. I looked up to his face, his lip was bleeding, and a trickle of blood ran down the side of his face from his eyebrow. I sat up.
"Hiccup?" I said. I leaned over his body, put my hands on either side of his face and looked at him. I put my head down onto his chest and heard his heartbeat. So he was alive. I shook his shoulders.
"Hiccup! Wake up! Please!" I whimpered. He mumbled something I couldn't understand. His eyes flew open and he sat straight up.
"Toothless!" he gasped. "Oh, gods, you're okay!"
"I'm fine. But I think you hit your head. It's bleeding." I said. I put my hand up to where there was blood, and showed him. He just winced in reply.
"At least the ledge caught us." He said.
"I know. But how are we going to get back down?" I asked.
"I don't know." He said, rubbing his head. "My dad is bound to come looking for us. Ruffnut and Fishlegs will probably get them as close as they can to the cliff. If they made it. They didn't see us when we fell so they don't know where we are."
"Yeah…we will probably be here most of the night. It's already dark out." I sighed.
"Toothless?" he asked. "What happened back there? With the dragon and your hands…"
"I don't know. But it hurt a lot. I am never doing that again. My hands still feel like they are burning." I looked down at them and saw that there were actually some burn scars on them. Not as bad as a normal humans skin would be if they had been burned like that, but they were still burned.
"Okay, well add that to the list of things that still remain dragon-like about you." He muttered.
"What?"
"Nothing." He tried to stand up, but winced again and fell backwards.
"What's wrong?" I asked. I got closer.
"My prosthetic. I think something's broken on it." he said. I looked at it. I had seen Hiccup work on it so many times; I was starting to think I knew more about it than he did. I lifted up my head.
"It's not broken." I said. "This part of it is twisted up. I could probably put it back in place."
"But it's pure metal. I don't think you can bend it." He said.
"You're forgetting, I am stronger than a normal human." I smirked. I gripped the top of if the prosthetic and started twisting the middle of it. The metal bent and squeaked, until it was finally put back in its place.
"There you go." I said. Hiccup stared at me with wide eyes. "What?"
"I, um…well, I knew you were strong, but I didn't know you were that strong." He stuttered.
"I'm still the same Toothless." I said. "I have the same amount of strength that I did as a dragon." Hiccup stared at me again. "What now?"
"Nothing." He said. "Let's go in the cave." He got up and just walked away.
"Um…okay?" I said, confused. He was upset with something, that much I could tell. I didn't know if that something was me, but he was still upset and that bothered me. I followed him into the cave. It was moist and humid, and there was water all over the ground. Worms were crawling up the wall and all over the ground. I didn't understand how there could be water in the cave since if it rained then the rain would not be able to get into the cave.
The cave went deeper than I thought it would. Twisting and turning in all different directions. After about 15 minutes of silence and walking, we still hadn't reached the end. I put my hand on Hiccups' shoulder.
"Are you okay?" I asked. "You seem mad."
"I'm just fine." He muttered. I took my hand off his shoulder.
Another thing I didn't understand: we could see. It should have been pitch black this far down in the cave. But there was a dim glow going throughout the cave.
"How can we see?" I asked, hoping to get a normal answer out of Hiccup. I was sadly mistaken.
"How am I supposed to know?" he snapped. I winced.
"Hiccup, what the heck is wrong with you?" I exclaimed. "You were fine a while ago, then I after I fixed your prosthetic you got all pissed!" He whirled around to face me and glared.
"My prosthetic wouldn't even need to be fixed if you were a dragon!" he cried. "If you were a dragon, we would have been able to get away from that Whispering Death! We wouldn't be down here right now!"
"What are you trying to say?" I yelled at him.
"Can I make it any more obvious?" he shouted.
"Hiccup, I don't under-"
"I want Toothless back!" he screamed. I backed up, my eyes wide. "I want my dragon back! I want my best friend back! I can't…I can't stand to call you Cleo all the time! Cleo is not my best friend! My best friend is a dragon!" he put his back up against the wall of the cave and slid down it into a sitting position with his head between his knees. "Cleo…Toothless…they're not the same thing. Cleo is a human. Toothless is a dragon. We wouldn't be in this mess if you were still a dragon." I sat down and helplessly watched him as he cried. "It's tearing me up from the inside to have to pretend you're something else. I hate it. I hate it more than anything. The only thing that kept me from snapping is thinking about getting you back to a dragon. It's almost been two weeks, and I don't think I can handle this anymore."
I didn't say anything. We were sitting right on a corner of the cave where it was about to turn.
"Hiccup…I didn't know. I was enjoying being a human so much, I didn't see how you were feeling." I said.
"I just want you to be a dragon again. We need to find a way to change you back." he sniffed.
"I agree. Maybe we should…oh sweet Mother of Thor." My eyes widened when i saw what was sitting right on the side of the corner.
"What? Toothless?" Hiccup was confused. I put my hand on his face and pushed it to what I was looking at.
"Oh gods." He said under his breath. Sitting there was a human skeleton. It was rotted and gross, with cobwebs covering it and mold on little parts of it. The eye sockets were cracking around the edges and bugs covered it. The rest of it was withering away and little bits and pieces of it were chipping off. But sitting on its lap were a few sheets of paper. Hiccup wiped his eyes and nose.
"What is that?" Hiccup said.
"A skeleton." I said matter-of-factly.
"Well no duh." He said. "I meant what is it doing here and what are those papers?"
"Only one way we're gonna find out." I sighed. I helped Hiccup up off the ground and we went over to the skeleton. I bent down and I picked up the papers. I squinted at it. I wasn't able to read it.
"Hmph." I groaned. "I might be able to speak perfect English, but that doesn't mean I can read it." I handed the papers to Hiccup. He took them and started reading out loud. They were talking about Night Furies. Notes and whatnot. By the second page, Hiccup gasped.
"What?" I asked.
"It's talking about how the Night Fury is the only dragon that is capable of turning into a human." He said. I smiled. "It says that is the said Night Fury has a strong but understandable desire to accomplish something that can only be accomplished as a human, then overnight it will change. But it will only change on the closest full moon, which is when you changed. It said that 'If the Night Fury has a strong but understandable desire to accomplish something'. What was the 'desire' that made you turn human?"
"I don't have a clue." I lied. I knew what it was. I had wanted Hiccup to love me the way I love him. It was a very strong desire, and it was reasonable because it was for love, I guess.
"We'll figure it out later." Hiccup said. "Then it says the only possible way for it to change back into a dragon again, is by the next new moon. The dragon/human must make its decision before the night of the new moon, on whether it wants to stay human, or return dragon. If it wishes to stay human, it will remain human from the new moon to the day it dies. If it decides to return to being a dragon, then overnight it will change." I started counting the days we had left.
"Okay, so…today is the twelfth day, when this night if over anyways. We will have three days left." I explained.
"That's not bad." Hiccup shrugged. "You just have to make up your mind completely that you want to go back to being a dragon."
"Well, I know that I absolutely want to be one again." I said. "I wasn't sure at first, but after you told me all that, I made of my mind. I miss flying too."
"So this should work. I wonder why this guy had these papers." He said.
"And what he was doing here in the first place. Wait, it looks like there is something else written on the back. Did you read that?" I asked. He flipped the papers over.
"No, I didn't." he said. "It says that that Night Fury can only turn into a human once. If it goes back to being a dragon, it can never change again." He looked up at me. "Are you sure you wanna go back? I mean, it's your life, not mine. I guess whatever makes you happy, makes me happy."
"I'm going back. I hate to see you like you were back there a minute ago." I said. He smiled. "No lets go back. I don't wanna go any further down there. Who knows what else is down there." He nodded and we headed towards the opening of the cave. It took us another 15 minutes before we got there.
"I hope they didn't come looking for us when we were in there." Hiccup said. As if on cue, we heard a very distant yelling. We could hardly hear them.
"GUYS! WE'RE OVER HERE!" we started shouting. We assumed they didn't hear us because the yelling faded.
"Are you serious? Now we're trapped down here!" I complained.
"Uh, maybe not." I heard Hiccup say. "Toothless, you might want to move off to the side."
"Why?" I asked as he started pushing me to the edge, but not close enough to fall off.
"Because of that!" he pointed. I looked to where he was pointing. A dragon was flying towards the cave. I squinted, trying to see what kind of a dragon it was.
"Toxic Nightshade." I muttered. And this was one that I knew personally. His name was Iratze.
"It is?" Hiccup squinted too. "Oh, it is. We should be fine then. It wont attack will it?"
"Nope. Not unless you hurt it." I replied. Iratze got closer until it landed right in front of us. He stood there, nostrils flaring and eyes going from me to hiccup. His eyes locked onto my face. As his head got closer to mine, his eyes narrowed. Then without warning, his forked tongue slid out and he licked me. I laughed with joy that he at least knew who I was. I hugged his neck and he purred.
"Iratze! It's so good to see you!" I said, pulling back. Hiccup stared at me.
"You know him?" he asked.
"Yes. Hiccup, this is Iratze. Iratze, this is Hiccup. He is my trainer. Iratze is one of the few rogue dragons that can understand English. I haven't seen him in forever!" I exclaimed.
"How come you're a human?" Iratze asked.
"It's a long story. But don't worry. I will be back to being a dragon in a few days." I said. "So…have you gotten a mate yet?"
"No. Still searching for one. Unless you want to, once your back to your dragon form…?"
"Ugh, Iratze!" I groaned. "You're still on that? I thought you gave up on me a long time ago! I told you that I don't want any dragon cross breeds. Besides, you are my friend, nothing more. Sorry."
"I know, I get it. I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up. Oh well, I'll find another. Now what are you doing down here anyways?" he asked.
"We fell." Hiccup jumped in. "So we need a ride up. Could you take us up?"
"Sure!" Iratze said. "Hop on." Hiccup helped me up (even though I really didn't need it.) then got up on after me. Iratze took off at an almost 90 degree angle. He flew over the trees and to the edge of the village.
"Wait! They're probably still out looking for us. We have to let them know that we're okay." Hiccup said. Iratze turned around and went back. We saw the glow of a torch.
"Dad!" Hiccup yelled.
"Hiccup?" Stoick shouted.
"Up here! We're okay! We'll meet you back at the village! All right?"
"Yep!"
We headed back towards the village again. Iratze landed and let us off.
"Thanks Iratze!" I called as he flew off. He roared.
"Gods, I'm tired." Hiccup yawned.
"Same here." I also yawned. "Tonight was just plain exciting." I smiled.
"My dad will be back soon. Lets just go inside." He said.
I followed him back to his house, watching the wind blow his hair in the most wonderful of ways.
Yeah. Weird ending I know. Real quick, if you get the chance, read the story "Dreaming Reality" by TolkienNerd4832. I thought it was super funny and I couldn't stop laughing. The only reason I was able to finish typing this and post it is because my mom isn't home but my dad is and he doesn't know about the grounding. Plus I think my mom is okay with it.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Because you aint getting anymore! This was the last one.
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SIIIKKEEE! I would never leave you guys hanging like that! I am soooo not a mean person! But please leave more reviews. I work really hard on this story and it really brings me down if I don't get a lot of comments. It's the main reason why I stopped writing my alice in wonderland story. So please review!