Sry for another late update, as usual. Summer is making me very lazy and busy :P
Oh well. Thank you for sticking with it!
And by the way, I've decided not to write anything about what's going on 'round Berk cuz otherwise you would be like a mind reader! xD but seriously if I'm going to head the way I've planned, then it would spoil a bit in the ending.
Even if it is just a tiny, small portion that most likely won't matter to anyone but me . . .
Meh.
-Mitti
- - § - -
"Dawny?"
"Yeah, Dawny!" Blizzard was in an excited frenzy, her eyes barely grazing the figures of Hiccup and Toothless before turning back to Dawn's Frost (or now Dawny) and back again. "It fits perfectly!"
A mild smile forming on his lips, Hiccup saw Blizzard soon begin to talk her head off to her dragon. Dawny looked at her with undivided attention, showing that she was dedicated to her new owner. "It's great," he said, as Blizzard smiled widely, her cheeks ablaze with an excited pink. "And she seems to like it."
"Yeah," the blood redhead said, turning her brightened face toward Dawny. "You hear that? You're Dawny now. I know you just got a new name and now I'm kinda changing it, but whatever. D'you like it?"
Dawny didn't understand, per se, but hummed a whimsical note that sent Blizzard off the edge with joy once again. "Yay!"
Interest sparking him once again, Hiccup watched as Dawny made a few clicking sounds in a rapid-fire manner, all sounding a bit muffled. Despite the brown-haired boy not understanding the tone that the UnderIce was speaking in, Blizzard apparently did.
"She likes it!" Blizzard cooed happily, before turning to Hiccup. "Thank you. For . . . Well, everything, I guess."
It was a time where the boy had not exactly been expecting a thank-you, but he smiled modestly nonetheless. "You're welcome. But I came here to learn about this dragon. You've shown me a lot, so I should be thanking you."
The blue-eyed girl laughed, before suddenly rushing up to him and hugging him in a very tight hug. "I'm serious. Thanks."
Despite Blizzard being thin and bony, she was quite strong when it came to a hug. Her two pale arms were wrapped around his torso, squeezing him until he couldn't exactly take oxygen into him. Breathing wheezily, he croaked out, "You're . . . Welcome . . . Again."
After she released him, Toothless slowly approached Dawny with caution lining his footsteps. The two humans watched, and as four eyes rested upon the two dragons, Dawny made a squeaky sound. Hiccup had noted the sounds the female dragon could make; clicking, humming, roaring, and now a squeal. This wasn't a native to the island of Berk, that was for sure.
Toothless throated a happy noise, and Dawny jumped up and down, her lean figure dancing around Toothless's. The Night Fury looked mildly uncertain at her uncomplicated routine, but soon joined in the fun. Hiccup and Blizzard laughed as the dragons bounced around in an excited manner.
"Looks like they're good friends now," Blizzard said, sighing happily. "That's nice. I don't think Dawny's had a dragon friend before. But still," she added, suddenly laughing again, "I don't think I've had a human friend for my life!"
"I thought you were only here for a few years," Hiccup said, forgetting how many exact years the pale girl had been here. Had she even told him . . . ?
"Seven," Blizzard corrected, eyes shifting from the frolicking dragons (who were having loads of fun, even if they were in a tight cave) to Hiccup. "I guess I had a brother, but he wasn't very nice. And I never met anyone else besides my parents . . ." as she trailed off, the brunette boy realized there was something glazing the brightness within her eyes.
Grief, was it?
"What happened to them?"
This time, instead of a light, enjoying laugh, the blood redhead laughed a short, cold laugh. "Why should I care. My dad and brother got sick and died. They hated me anyway. I thought I could help hunt for my mother, but when I wake up? I stranded on this damn island, curled up in a basket without even a note, blanket, or piece of food. She didn't love me."
This was the harshest Blizzard had ever spoken. "A-are you sure she wasn't trying to help you?" Hiccup ventured out. "Maybe she was sick, and didn't want you to be."
"No." Blizzard suddenly slumped against the wall, trailing herself down until she sat on the cold floor. "No, she would have told me. She left me, and when I woke up, Dawny found me."
"Dawny found you?" he asked, and when she nodded, eyes cast to the ground, he smiled. "So she did like you from the beginning."
"I'm not sure," Blizzard said, but then sighed and slowly stood up again. "But I need to ignore my stupid sadness. I don't care about it, anyway." Shaking her head as if to clear it, she added, "Besides, I need to show you why Shadow attacked us."
"Why?" Hiccup asked, interest picking up his breathing rate. "Do you know anything about him, or it?"
"How the heck am I supposed to know about a creepy shadow figure that's been trying to kill me?" Blizzard asked incredulously. "All I know is that he's trying to kill me, he hastes the spirits, and -"
"Spirits?"
A long exhale followed. "Ohh, right. Sorry, I haven't gotten that far with the story," the blue-eyed girl apologized. "D'you believe in gods?"
"Yeah."
"Well, I don't." A smirk appeared on Blizzard's face, but before explaining why she motioned for them to keep walking. "We oughta walk. We can find some food later on."
Hiccup had not realized it, but he was getting rather hungry. His stomach growled just thinking about eating.
"I don't because the spirits have been in my life. As far as I know, there are a few; Wind, Cloud, Earth, Leaf, and Ocean. I think they have a leader, but I've got no clue who." As Blizzard took the first few steps forward, Dawny broke free from her play fight with Toothless and followed suit, leaving the Viking teen and Night Fury to silently do the same.
"I was kinda down the day I found out," Blizzard admitted, her voice thick with tangled and tacked-up emotion. "I hadn't found food for a few days. I was really careful on what I was eating, but that made my food limited to about three options." While the four walked, they meandered into somewhat of a line; Blizzard led their group, Dawny only a pace behind, while Toothless and Hiccup trailed. "I felt really sick, and I kept seeing black all over my vision." A red-haired head shook as if to clear a memory. "I actually thought, for a while, that I wouldn't get out of the tunnel that time."
- - § - -
I hated admitting the truth like this. I felt so exposed, so vulnerable, yet I had no clue why. Hiccup and Toothless weren't a threat to me. They were basically my only friends, save for Dawny. I guess, in a way, I didn't like truly saying that I thought I was dying.
Because, in the truth, I was.
As my story continued, I was more and more upset with myself for seeming like one of those soft and mushy girls that I had despised, even though I only met a few in my lifetime. Another bug that was constantly nagging me throughout my tale was the fact that I was such an emotional storyteller. My voice thickened whenever a sad part came in, and my heartbeat raced when I told the top climax of my story, almost as quick and stuttering as it had been when the real thing occurred.
I was oh-so thankful for the fact that I was leading, because otherwise Hiccup would have seen the tears that welled up in my eyes, and soon began dripping from my wet eyelashes and drawling over towards my chin, feeling like broken glass and knives the entire time they scarred me with their presence.
- - § - -
"Anyway, in a phase of desperation, I just decided to roam the tunnels I never had before. Even though I'd been there for what, five years? It didn't occur to me that I should explore the whole labyrinth. Part of me liked the fact that I didn't know.
"I don't wanna seem like the softie type, but I just wanted to find a safe-feeling place to . . . Ah, you get the gist. Soo, I was wandering blindly around these halls, half the time being blind from exhaustion, but I was too scared to just give up. I'd seen Dawny around these tunnels, along with a few other dragons that I didn't know, and I was actually a little nervous they might try to . . . e-eat me, y'know.
"So I kept going. It took a while, and partway there I started crying, so by the time I actually found the room I was mostly dehydrated, too. But when I found the room . . . You're going to see it soon. It was breathtaking beauty for me, on the brink of this passing out from exhaustion that I wasn't sure I would awake from. The strangest thing was, it had a table. The walls were arched super high, and it looked like this man-sculpted place. It had these stairs leading up to the rectangular table that had these six-sided small stones that were actually glowing.
"I swore I was hallucinating. I thought I was already . . . gone, but then, as I looked right at the five tiles, I decided to tap one.
"Instantly I felt so much better. My vision was sharpened until my eyes hurt, and I heard everything until my head started hurting. I wasn't hungry anymore, and when I stood up straight I saw that the stones on the table were moving.
"One of them slid toward me, one that was glowing blue. I heard a voice, I think it was inside my head, but with my hearing so mixed up right then, I'm not really sure. Wherever it was coming from, it told me:
"Your destiny has been chosen out of those that are of lesser importance than you. There are the immortals known as Spirits, who are to control their specified element and keep the world in wholehearted peace of nature, and the balance of humans' death and life from their mortal time. Your destiny is . . .
"Y-your destiny is . . . I-is . . ."
- - § - -
Tell him. Tell him the truth.
I can't. He can't know. He'll never treat me the same.
Why do you care? He's a stranger to you.
But he's the only human friend I've ever had . . .
So he has a right to know the truth.
But I don't want the friendship to be spoiled because of it.
Once again: why. do. you. care. What's so special about him?
. . . H-he's . . . He's just . . .
Don't be caught up in anything. He should know. He'll help you. He'll give you sympathy, something you never had. Something you've always yearned for. Something that's stared you back mercilessly in the face.
But . . . He's so . . . He's so free. He doesn't have any horrible destiny balancing on his shoulders. And he doesn't have the burden of knowing what you're supposed to do. I want to spare him from that, from what I've suffered from for a year.
Did you think your dream you had last time you slept was an illusion? How many dreams have you had that were fake? Hiccup really did go through all that; he met Toothless after shooting him down, he kept Toothless a secret from his whole island. Do you think he hasn't had a burden before?
Just tell him. He'll be fine with it.
. . .
- - § - -
Blizzard had stuttered with her words for a moment, and Hiccup saw her feet stumble a bit as well. After a thickening silence, the blood redhead continued her story to the two dragons and brown-haired boy as if nothing happened.
"Your destiny is to save, even at the cost of your mortal life, the spirit known as Ocean. He is in danger, despite his immortal form, from a mutant spirit that is known as a Shadow. You have been chosen to be the one to defend Ocean Spirit, despite your mortality, so that the spirits may maintain balance throughout the land once again." a shudder ran down Blizzard's spine. "Those words have been in my dreams almost every night. I have them engraved in my head by memory."
Hiccup could only gape in silent awe at her. She was . . . chosen to save a spirit? "How can you save a spirit? How can you kill Shadow?" he queried in endless confusion that swirled around in his head.
The blue-eyed girl sighed sadly. "I have no clue. The voice might tell me when we return to the room . . . and yes, we're going to the room," she added with humor when she saw Hiccup's expression of genuine surprise. "The pathway was also in my dreams. I was lucky that I was spared from a dream of the tunnels last night."
She had turned her back toward Hiccup as they continued trekking along, but he still did not miss the dip in her head after she spoke those words. Her cheeks hued in a deep shade of pink, she hastily walked forward once again, with Dawny following her quickly, humming in concern.
"Are you okay?" Hiccup asked as Toothless croaked out a worried noise as well.
"O-of course!" Blizzard waved off the question, fiddling with the hem of her shirt. "So anyway," she continued, her voice deepening into seriousness once more. "I couldn't believe what the voice was telling me. I thought I was still hallucinating. I mean, having super-sharp hearing and eyesight that was giving me a major headache? It's not exactly something I called normal.
"After the Voice spoke to me, I - I think I passed out. I'm not sure what happened, because the next thing I remember was some really sharp and high-pitched noise was in my ear and I was lying down in one of the caves. I eventually wandered back to the tunnels that I knew, but from then on . . . I guess I was never really the same. I was so scared, and after I realized that I would always have nightmares, I began dreading sleep until I hardly slept at all. I also began eating whatever I could find, instead of being careful, and a few made me really sick." The blood redhead put a hand on her stomach, a mere reminder of the violent convulses her stomach and throat had made before her vomiting. "I found Dawny, and that was the start of our fights. I guess it was my fault, really, since I had become so easy to aggravate. After looking back, I realize . . ." Another shudder.
"I wasn't myself. I was . . . Like this . . . Wild animal, or something. I just felt feral." Blizzard's head had stooped down to her chest in depressed defeat, and her feet soon began trudging so slowly that their whole little gang-train became sedated. Before Hiccup could even try to console or comfort her, she continued with her sad story. "I snapped out of it, but I soon felt so wary of my surroundings. It never really wore away." A dry laugh. "That's why I attacked you that first time. Sorry about that."
"It's okay," Hiccup said, hoping that made her feel better. After knowing her story . . . He felt rather bad, in all honesty. She had been having an internal fight within herself, and had most likely stopped talking in paranoia of something or someone hearing her, thus making her voice horribly scratchy and dry. Just as it was when he first met Blizzard.
Dawny hummed in an understanding manner, before nuzzling her in the ribcage affectionately. Blizzard sighed, before returning the gesture and petting Dawny on her scaled head. Toothless nudged Hiccup closer to the other two, before walking up parallel to Dawny and made a purr-like noise toward Blizzard.
Giggling like she was six, the aforementioned girl pet the Night Fury along with the UnderIce, but of course the two dragons had to get into a competition on who could hold the girl's attention the longest. As Dawny thrust herself towards Toothless to butt him away, he skirted out of the way before leaning closer to Blizzard, trying to edge out Dawny.
Soon her short giggles turned into all-out peals of laughter, and the blood redhead tried to calm to friendly competitive dragons but to no avail. And, Hiccup realized with amazement, this little fight seemed to draw Blizzard's attention on the dark and drab things about her "destiny" that the Voice spoke about. The two dragons had shown Blizzard that life could still have the joyous fun that always seemed to escape the grasps of the hopeless.
They just needed some help.
"They seem to be having fun, don't they?" Blizzard suddenly asked Hiccup, turning her now-shining eyes towards him. He, however, did not miss the sorrowful look behind them, and the dried tear stains on her slightly flushed cheeks. "Have you ever had fun like that?" she asked quietly, before turning back to the dragons and training her eyes on them.
"Er, actually yes." With Toothless, Hiccup had had loads of fun, even if they were forced to be in a secluded cove. "Once, when -"
He didn't get to finish.
Because Blizzard suddenly paled until her skin looked paper-white, and her deep blue eyes became wide and dilated with fear. The dragons who had still been in their little pushing competition suddenly broke off and stared at the girl with concerned eyes; two green, two silver.
As Hiccup watched in nervousness, her limbs went rigid and she froze in place, and her eyes that were exploding with nervousness were staring right into Hiccup's. Her mouth was in a pale line, and when it moved it whispered one word:
"Nightmare."
The second the word escaped from her, she seized up, squeezing her eyes shut, until finally her whole body relaxed in this terrible way, as if all feeling had suddenly escaped from it.
Stumbling, Blizzard tilted down in a swaying, precarious manner until she fell down on her chest and cheek with an ugly-sounding crack coming from her chest. Dawny shrieked, and Toothless hissed in surprise as another sound came from Blizzard.
A scream of pain.
- - § - -
Do you REALLY think I'm killing off my OC?
I had a small idea . . . What if I started actually NAMING my chapters? If I did, maybe I'd name this chapter "The Truth of a Storm".
Oh, and PS, in chapter 7 (VII) Toothless stumbled upon the cave that Blizzard is talking about. And it is NOT an error when I say there were five tiles Blizzard saw, not eight like Toothless did.
All will be revealed in due time.
-Mitti