Lightning and Death Itself Deleted Scene 05
A/N
I've gotten multiple requests to write sequels, epilogues, etc., for this story. At this time, I don't have any ideas to add; the book is pretty well closed. But in the interest of keeping my readers happy, I can offer you something a little different: deleted scenes.
Like the deleted scenes from a movie or TV show, these are chunks of dialog and action that I considered writing, but ultimately left out or glossed over because I thought they distracted from the flow of the story. But they have merit, and since you want to read more from this story, I'll write them out and let you enjoy them. They will appear in no particular order.
This scene takes place sometime between Chapters 12 and 13. Several readers have requested a scene like this, so I felt obligated to write it once I began fleshing out the deleted scenes.
o
"Now that you've been here for a few days," Night-fury asked them, "what do you think of living in the nest?"
"Hmmm." New-night-fury wasn't sure how to answer that. "How would you sum it up, Small-night-fury?"
"Why are you asking me? You're the one who's always saying, 'Thank you for summing that up.' You sum it up!"
"Okay," he nodded slowly. "Well-l-l..." He thought back to some of the things that had happened to the two of them recently.
o
Gronckle-dark-beige-breaks-her-teeth-a-lot was nervous. This was the first time she'd tried to take her entire brood of young ones on a flight around the nest together. That might not sound like a problem, if you didn't know that she'd clutched fifteen eggs this year. It was nearly impossible to keep them all together when they were tiny, and now that they were a few months old and thinking for themselves, corralling this crowd was nearly a full-time job. It didn't help that her mate had been killed by the Vikings in the place by the lake, two raids ago.
But she had to get them familiar with the nest; they had to start preparing to leave the ledge that had been their home ever since they came back from the island where eggs are laid. She'd taken each of them out alone and showed them what they needed to know – the other ledges and caves, the openings to the outside world, and the mist that hid the Mother from view. Now it was time to take her family for a flight together. Somehow she just knew somebody was going to wander off and get lost. It would probably be Gronckle-goes-bump-in-the-night. That dragon could find trouble faster than a Nadder could find a source of its own reflection!
It started well enough. They formed a double line behind her, tiny wings buzzing, and followed her into the open air in the middle of the nest. They made quite a parade, her offspring and her; other dragons were watching them. She smiled with pride.
Then two of the little ones collided, the two neat rows congealed into a tangled mess of little Gronckles, and while she was in the middle of scolding Gronckle-goes-bump-in-the-night for bumping his sister on purpose... Gronckle-reddish-brown-smallest-of-all fell asleep in mid-air.
She screamed helplessly as he spiraled downward, his wings still beating but slowing down. If she left her other young, they'd scatter and she could lose them all. Some might fly up the cone and get lost outside, some might antagonize a much bigger dragon, and some would find trouble she couldn't even imagine.
She just looked on in horror as her littlest child plunged down toward the misty bottom of the nest... and the ever-hungry Mother...
A blur of motion caught her eye – something else was plunging downward! As she watched in amazement, a long black shape streaked toward her sinking child, wings furled. For a moment, they both disappeared into the mist...
...and then they both burst back into view, her child balanced on the Night Fury's nose. Several dragons roared their approval; she hadn't been the only one watching. The black guardian laboriously flapped up to her level and deposited her son, who was still sound asleep, on her back.
"New-night-fury! You saved him!" she sobbed. "You saved him!"
The black dragon shook his head vigorously. "What are you feeding that kid? He weighs a ton!"
"Thank you," she smiled, flattered. "Somehow I knew it was a good day when you joined our nest. Now I know why."
"You're welcome," he replied. "That's quite a tribe you've got there. Until they get the whole 'flying' thing down pat, they might be safer out over the beach."
"That might not be a bad idea," she nodded as he flapped away.
Nearby, a small green Nadder watched the whole thing. "What an amazing rescue," she said to no one in particular.
o
Hiccup was resting after another raid when he heard two loud, angry roars in quick succession. He looked around until he found the source of the commotion: two full-grown Monstrous Nightmares squaring off for a fight in mid-air. This was no game. Circling and snarling, they were looking for a chance to do each other some serious harm.
One of the hardest tricks Toothless had ever taught him was the art of firing a plasma blast so it would burst at a desired distance, instead of on impact. As he sprang into the air, he took careful aim. This was one shot he really didn't want to miss.
He slightly overshot; his firebolt burst a few feet beyond the two dragons, instead of right between them. But it had the desired effect of stopping them in mid-air. He flew between them and hovered for a moment. "Both of you! Land on that ledge, and we'll settle this like civilized dragons!"
The brown one glared at him with undisguised fury. He worried that he might have picked a fight he couldn't win. But the Nightmare backed down and joined the red one on the ledge, as far away from each other as they could get without falling off. New-night-fury landed in the middle.
"All right, now what's it about?" he demanded.
"He's moving in on my female!" the brown one snarled.
"She's not yours!" the other retorted. "She hasn't chosen anyone this year!"
"She chose me last year, and she said she'd be back for more! That means me, not you!" the first one growled. He was on the verge of breathing fire when New-night-fury got in his face.
"So you're going to fight each other, and she'll fly away with the winner," New-night-fury scowled. "Is that the idea?"
"Of course," the red one nodded, as did the brown.
"You realize, of course, that it almost never works that way?"
The brown one snorted. "Look, we know you're a Night Fury and all that, but we also know you're new here, and there's a lot you don't know about dragons."
"Maybe not," New-night-fury shot back, "but some things seem to be the same for both dragons and humans. One of those things is that females aren't impressed by typical male behavior."
"What does that mean?" the brown demanded.
"It means one of you could bite and claw the other one to the point of death, and it won't affect how this female feels about the winner or the loser. In fact, if winning the female's heart is what matters, then this fight probably won't have a winner and a loser, just two losers. Now, where is this female?" he demanded.
"She's the orange one sitting on that outcrop," the red one answered. New-night-fury caught her eye and gestured for her to join them. She did so reluctantly, flapping next to the ledge rather than landing on it.
"Do you have a preference between these two handsome dragons?" he asked her.
"I... I'd rather not say," she replied nervously.
"Fine," New-night-fury snarled. "I guess there's no way to settle this except by fighting." He lifted off the ledge. "Have at it, boys!"
They hesitated for a moment. Then the brown one glanced at the female and roared a challenge that the red one couldn't ignore, and they rushed together. After a few frenzied seconds, they drew apart. The brown Nightmare had deep scratches along his flank, and the red one had a bite mark on his neck.
Before they could attack each other again, a flaming curtain separated them. The female had breathed a line of fire down the middle of the ledge. That wouldn't stop a Monstrous Nightmare, of course, but it sent a message. They hesitated.
She landed on the brown's side of the ledge. "What are you doing?" she demanded. "You're going to get yourself killed, you stubborn idiot!"
"Oh!" New-night-fury exclaimed. "So you do have a preference!"
"You encouraged them to fight!" she snarled at him. "If he doesn't get better, I'll blame you for it!"
"If you'd been honest about your feelings, this whole thing could have been avoided," he growled back. "Next time, give somebody a TrueSight instead of playing games. But as long as you're mad at me and not him, I'm sure it will end well." He turned to the red one. "Sorry, but she's made her choice. I suggest you find another one who looks just like her." The red muttered something under his breath and flapped away. New-night-fury did the same.
A moment later, he was joined in the air by a young green Nadder. "That was amazing, how you worked that out!" she exclaimed. "How did you know she'd choose one over the other?"
"I wasn't sure; I just had a feeling," he said. "Have we met?"
"Not really, but I've been watching you," she went on. "We went for weeks with no Night Furies at all; now we've got three of them, and you're definitely the coolest of the three, New-night-fury."
"Okay, you know more about me than I know about you," he said, unsure where this conversation was going. "Do you have a name?"
"My parents call me Nadder-green-hatched-third," she said with a trace of embarrassment. "I guess I haven't earned a grown-up name yet. But I love watching you in action!"
"Well... thank you," he said. "I just make it up as I go along, and so far, I've been lucky. I didn't realize breaking up fights was a spectator sport, or I would have done it with more style."
"It was excellent, no matter how you did it," the young Nadder gushed.
"I would have preferred to do it with no one getting hurt, but I did my best with what they gave me to work with," he shrugged. "Right now, I'm a little stressed over that fight, and I need to do some flying to unwind."
"Do you mind if I follow you?" she asked eagerly.
"Ummm... no, I guess not," he replied, then smiled. "If you can keep up with me, that is."
o
Small-night-fury was flying lazy circles around the edge of the nest, enjoying the peace and quiet that usually overtook the nest the day after a raid, when New-night-fury glided over to join her. "I'm going up," he said. "I'd like you to join me, if you would."
That was an odd way for him to invite her to go flying. She glanced at him; there was an unusual look in his eyes that she couldn't identify. "Are you feeling okay?" she asked.
"Yes, I think so," he nodded. "I just have an odd feeling about something up there, and I'd like you to go with me."
She nodded slowly (it's not like she had anything else to do), and they flapped up and out of the cone together.
Once in the open air, New-night-fury put on a burst of vertical speed and shot straight up. She looked around for the source of his unease, and saw nothing. There weren't any other dragons nearby; there were no ships on the sea around their island; everything was quiet and peaceful. She wasn't prepared to say New-night-fury was wrong, seeing how that hadn't happened once since he became a dragon, but she had no idea at all what he'd been referring to.
Suddenly he swept down past her, curved around, and zoomed upward again. Was this some kind of game? If so, it was a first for Hiccup, who loved fun but rarely initiated it. She climbed as well. He turned in toward her, and she matched his turn. They passed close to each other, but he made no attempt to tag her or do anything else game-like.
He looped around; she matched him, move for move. She suddenly realized two things. One, that she somehow knew exactly what he was going to do, just as he did it. Two, that she was feeling some kind of tension inside, and if she didn't match his moves, the tension got worse. If she did match him, she still felt tense, but it was a good kind of tense.
Back and forth, up and down they danced. If someone could have traced their motions, they would have formed a complex symmetrical pattern; indeed, some of the humans' Celtic knotwork was probably inspired by other dragons doing similar dances. Small-night-fury didn't know anything about that, of course. She knew that they were climbing, and so was the feeling inside her, as though the dance was affecting her on the inside somehow. But, of course, that was –
This was a mating flight!
The realization hit her between the eyes, and for a moment, she missed her move. Hiccup flew over toward her, concerned. She had just seconds to decide whether to continue the dance to its conclusion, or to break it off.
When Toothless was teaching her to fly, he told her over and over, "Don't fight the dragon." She had a complete set of Night Fury reflexes from the moment she'd ceased to be human. Those reflexes enabled her to learn to fly in a matter of days (which was still slower than Hiccup, who listened better and didn't fight the dragon at all). Now, those same reflexes were driving her into an act of passion with New-night-fury.
Did she want to do this?
If they were human, it would take a lot more than a dance to bring her to that point. It would take an engagement, and a wedding ceremony, and the tribe's cooperation, and her parents' active involvement, and a healthy dose of her own emotions as well. Now, as a dragon, those emotions were all that was left. She glanced up at New-night-fury... at Hiccup... and saw the raw passion in his eyes.
That passion was for her alone. He'd surely felt that passion for years, but had kept it hidden away, maybe even fought it. Now it was raging free inside him, and he was desperate to share it.
It was nearly matched by the passion that she now felt for him. It wasn't just a dragon thing. It was an admission that he had changed drastically, for the better, and he was now everything she'd ever wanted in a male.
She didn't know how dragons came together. She had only the barest understanding of how humans came together. She'd figure it out somehow. Her dragon reflexes might be driving her, but she wasn't out of control. Yes, she wanted this as much as he did.
She turned to match his turn, and they passed near each other again. The dance went on. It took them higher, ever higher, until one last curve brought them together, and he adjusted his flight path so their bellies just touched, and then he gripped her with all four legs in a tight embrace, and...
She didn't remember much about the next half-minute or so, except that they fell a long distance, and she felt utterly spent and exhausted when they broke their embrace. He stayed unusually close to her, which suited her just fine, and they glided back into the nest, to an empty ledge, without saying a word.
Dozens of dragons roared their approval, stomping their feet and letting out short puffs of flame.
"Were they watching us the whole time?" she demanded, fighting off her lassitude.
"Dragons don't have modesty or privacy like people do," Hiccup explained; he sounded as tired as she felt. "This kind of thing is just another aspect of life to them, like eating or sleeping or hatching out of an egg."
"Then why would they want to watch us?"
"It's probably because they like us so much," he decided. "They love Night Furies, so the idea that we just made another one is nothing but good news to them."
"I'm still not comfortable with the idea."
"Well, if you'd married me as a human, our wedding night would have had witnesses, because I was a chief's son," New-night-fury said with a bit of a grin. "I guess we can't escape our destiny."
She stared at him, suddenly very serious. "Hiccup, after what we just did... are you going to take care of me?"
"Yes, absolutely," he answered without hesitation. "When you go fishing, I'll go with you, and if you don't catch anything, I'll provide for you. Any raid that you go on, I'll go on, and if I learn any tricks that could help a Night Fury survive, you'll be the first to know."
"Will you look out for me while I'm caring for our egg?"
"Yes." Again there was no hesitation in his voice. "I will feed you, I will watch over you, and I will make sure you have the best place to lay our egg."
"Will you care for our baby?"
"Yes! My father had a hard time with fatherhood, but our little one will have the most devoted, caring father this nest has ever seen."
He seemed so earnest! She cuddled up against him, closed her eyes, and smiled slightly.
"I bet you say that to all the girls."
o
"Two-heads-blue-and-green, what's wrong with your little ones?"
The Zippleback's three young were clinging to their mother, squalling and refusing to be comforted. New-night-fury wasn't sure this was part of his job description, but it couldn't hurt to try.
The mother made two disgusted faces. "It's that Nadder-green-the-drama-queen again! She's telling stories about some kind of super-shark that's going to eat all of us, and now my young are afraid to go fishing!"
Maybe he could do something about this, after all. "Let me see if I can talk some sense into her. Tell your little ones that, as long as they stay close to the island, the Night Furies will protect them."
"I'll do that. Thank you, New-night-fury," the Zippleback answered. As Hiccup flew in a circle, looking for the nest's resident drama queen, Astrid joined him.
"I couldn't help overhearing that. Can I handle this one, Hiccup? Emotional females are more up my alley than yours." He nodded, a bit relieved to be off this case. She located the source of the trouble and winged over to the Nadder's ledge.
The green Nadder in question was sitting on the ground, alternately howling and sobbing. Small-night-fury tried to get her attention several times, and finally tail-slapped her. That did the job.
"Why did you slap me?" she asked.
"Mostly so you'd talk to me," Small-night-fury replied. "What's the matter?"
"I'll show you what's the matter!" the Nadder sobbed. "Look!" She held up her left leg. One of the claws had been partially bitten off. The bleeding had already stopped.
"You're making all this fuss because you broke a nail?" Small-night-fury couldn't believe it.
"I didn't break it! The super-shark bit it off!" The Nadder began to cry again. "I was just out fishing for tuna... and I felt this tug on my leg... and when I looked, I saw this!" She was crying freely now. "It's going to eat all of us, I just know it!"
"Oh, for the love of... if there are any gods up there who listen to dragons, please give me strength!" Small-night-fury burst out. "Have you ever seen this super-shark?"
"Well, no, but what else could do this to me?"
"That doesn't even look like a shark bite. I'd say you got nipped by the tuna you were trying to catch."
"Oh, no, that couldn't be true! It had to be the super-shark! It's going to eat us all! WE'RE ALL GOING TO –"
Astrid had had enough. She shot a firebolt barely an inch and a half above the wailing Nadder's head. It burst on the wall behind her.
"You... you shot at me!" Nadder-green-the-drama-queen exclaimed in shock.
"Oh, no, that couldn't be true," Small-night-fury came back. "If I'd shot at you, I would have hit you, because Night Furies never miss, right? Maybe I should try that again." She opened her mouth.
"No! Please don't!" the Nadder exclaimed.
"Are you going to frighten any more young dragons with stories about sharks that don't exist?" The Nadder shook her head mutely.
"Are you going to get the facts before you upset the whole nest from now on?" She nodded.
"Good. Don't make me come down here again." Small-night-fury returned to her ledge. Toothless and Hiccup joined her there.
"We were listening; I hope you don't mind," Toothless began.
"All calls may be monitored for quality assurance purposes," Hiccup added.
"Anyway, you did well," Toothless went on. "You were a little less patient with her than I would have been, but then, my approach hasn't done much good with her. We'll see how your method works in the long run. In the short run, though, I have to say 'well done'."
o
"What's the matter, little friend?"
New-night-fury had been making his rounds, just checking on all the ledges and resting spots inside the nest. He found something he had never seen before: the little green Nadder who followed him was sitting in a corner, looking sad.
"Oh, nothing," she answered.
"You're lying," he replied as he landed next to her. "Dragons aren't supposed to lie. Talk to me."
"Well... I wish I had a real name," the Nadder said. "A grown-up name. Something that says who I am. 'Nadder-green-hatched-third' isn't very interesting."
"Is that all?"
"Uhh... well, some of the other dragons were making fun of me because I follow you around."
"That's the real problem, isn't it?" Hiccup wasn't a bit sure how he'd work this one out.
"Is there anything wrong with that? I mean, you're so cool, the way you take care of us and break up fights and stuff! I wish I could be like you!"
New-night-fury almost blurted out some kind of rebuttal to that, but he bit off his words. He saw his answer.
"Little one, look at me."
"I am looking at you!" she protested.
"No, look at me!"
She almost gasped. He was offering her TrueSight! Adult dragons almost never did that for young ones, and Night Furies... but this was an offer she couldn't refuse. She steadied herself and gazed into his eyes.
He saw a picture of the universe with himself in the middle, and the earth, sun, moon, and stars revolving around him. Well, he could have seen that one coming.
She got a picture that made no sense to her at all. She saw a young human male with brown hair and green eyes, peering cautiously around the corner of a building, apparently watching something that made him nervous. Cowering just behind him was a smaller human female with similar features. The male rested one hand on the female's shoulders, in part to restrain her and in part to reassure her.
The moment passed. She shook her head. "New-night-fury... what was that?"
"When humans are born, it takes them many years to reach maturity," New-night-fury explained. "They stay in family units with their parents and with the other young. Those young are called 'brothers' if they are male, or 'sisters' if they are female. They work together, they play together, they learn and grow together. Sometimes they fight, but they get over it. They always look out for each other."
"Was that male... you?" the Nadder asked.
"Yes, that's what I used to look like," he nodded.
"And the female you were taking care of... that was your... sister?"
"No," he sighed. "I never had a sister. Until now. That female was you."
She stared at him, speechless. It was an unfamiliar concept, and yet she knew it was also an unparalleled honor.
"I'm... your little sister?"
"You're my little sister. I'm going to look out for you and protect you, as though you were my own kin."
"You mean, like in that last raid, when I panicked and forgot to flame those three Vikings?"
"Yes, and I blew the ground out from under them and sent them flying. I would have done that for any dragon, but I really enjoyed doing it for you. Protecting you made me feel good, Nadder-green-follows-new-night-fury."
He felt good? She felt like she might burst! He was looking out for her! He'd given her a name! He'd solved all her problems at once! She flew straight up the cone, spinning and breathing out sparks as she went. She was joy personified.
New-night-fury just watched her fly, with a small smile on his face. Small-night-fury joined him on the ledge.
"Should I be jealous?" she asked.
He turned to her. "Should I be jealous of Varinn and Rangi?"
"No, of course not! They're my little brothers!" She suddenly understood what he meant, and rubbed her face against him.
"Hiccup, sometimes you just amaze me."
o
"So you want me to sum up what it's like to live in the nest?" New-night-fury repeated. "Well, it's not that different from living in a human village, except I seem to be doing a better job of handling it. And I'm doing some actual good by being here, and I'm not messing up or making things worse, and...
"Toothless, I can't remember if I ever said this to you, but thank you for turning me into a dragon. You've given me an amazing new life."
Toothless smiled. "You told that little green Nadder that brothers look out for their sisters, and that's true. You ought to know by now that brothers look out for their brothers, too."