To Open a Heart (httyd fan fic)

Chapter Eight: we need a tracker.

After a few days Echo noticed the Hiccup boy returning more often, sitting on the far side of the cove with a little leather bound stack of papers and some charcoal on a stick. Every now and again seeing if he can edge closer without her glaring him back a few steps. Toothless kept trying to convince her to let him up to the edge of her boundary and Echo continued to decline. He may trust this human but Echo still had her doubts. One early morning with fog hovering in the air, the sun not even out yet Echo lifted her head from the fish she had been nibbling and pricked her ears to the noise of a human calling something out over and over. "Toothless!" It sounded like it was calling for Toothless. Cautiously getting to her paws she pulled herself in, partly arching her back. The human sounded like Hiccup but she wasn't sure. She hadn't seen Toothless all night, he hadn't shown up and she had rationally come to the conclusion that he had been busy all day and needed rest. But if his human was looking for him it must not be the case. Rolling the shoulder of her almost-healed wing she hissed quietly to herself. Echo strode quickly out of her small area of territory, head dipping down as she muttered to herself. Once she was at the edge of the cove she crouched and leapt up, tail swinging she hooked her claws onto the stone and pulled herself up onto the ledge, flapping her left wing and (carefully) her right she jumped again and again, nearly slipping once or twice Echo cursed at her injured wing as she made it to the forest floor. Weaving through the trees the night fury tracked the sound of the human's voice until she found it wandering with it's hands cupped around it's mouth, still calling for it's dragon "partner". Echo hunkered down in the ferns and slid forward a little. Hiccup heard the ferns swish and spun around and stared at her, for a moment she wondered if he was shocked or something then remembered human night vision was not the best and that she was black and hiding, and he could probably only see her eyes. Standing up she lifted her head and stepped forward a little to where the feint gray light filtered down from the branches.

(Hiccup POV) the sleek form of the she-fury stood still in the dim light, her eyes intelligent and staring at him with an intensity he didn't think any animal was capable of. He remembered the night after he had accidentally made it known to her and Toothless that he had been watching them. It had been after he was starting to notice a difference in Toothless's behavior, he had been more snappy and tired, not going as fast as he usually did during training and slinking off when it was getting close to nighttime. Hiccup had started to follow him a night or two before getting caught. On the way home Hiccup had been talking to Toothless, or, himself, he guessed. He had been asking allowed what to call the she-fury and Toothless shot his echolocation into the tree ahead of them. It had startled Hiccup for a second before he understood Toothless was trying to tell him something. "You know what to call her?" Hiccup had asked, Toothless purred and shot his echolocation again. "Echolocation?" Toothless shook his head but did the same thing again. "Ech... echo? You want to call her Echo, Bud?" Toothless had swished his tail happily and purred loudly. Back in the present moment Hiccup stood perfectly still. "Echo? What are you doing out of the cove? Your wing can't be healed yet..." she didn't acknowledge him in anyway, continuing to stare him dead in the eyes. "Do you know where Toothless is? Is he ok?" She gave him a small roar shook her head, flapping her wings a little. "Is that a no?" She gave him a dubious glare and snorted, trotting the way Hiccup had came with her nose to the ground. Hiccup stayed in place for a moment before awkwardly hurrying after Echo as she quickly followed his trail back to the village. She stopped at the edge of the Viking huts, crouching down and growling quietly. The night fury glanced briefly at Hiccup as he came up to her side before expertly stalking around the village, skirting the cliffs and climbing the side of the hill Hiccup's house was, where he knew his father, Stoic the Vast, was sleeping soundly. Hiccup came up the stairs instead of the side of the hill just in time to see Echo, nose no longer to the ground, racing down the back side of the steep hill, wings half unfurled slightly showing the spectacular underside. Hiccup didn't have time to catch his breath, or think, or ask questions. Echo was moving fast and he'd loose her soon. He ran after her, following her tail into the woods and ducking under branches. After at least two or three minutes of running all of a sudden the she-fury halted, causing Hiccup to skid to a stop almost crashing into her. She shot him a glance and hissed at him, lifting herself onto her back legs she held her head in the air. She got back down on all fours and made a small whining noise, turning in a small circle and pawing at the ground. "Don't worry. We'll find him." Hiccup said, somehow knowing she had lost the trail she had been following. "We have tracker dragons back at the stables, Stormfly and Skullcrusher are the best of the best." He told her confidently, as she stopped pawing the ground in distress to look at Hiccup, her eyes weary and scared. "You won't be able to find him with a broken wing." Hiccup said slowly after a long pause, speaking as if he were walking on thin ice, slowly and carefully. She growled quietly but didn't do anything else. The sun was starting to peak through the fog and Hiccup started to make his way back to the village, surprised when he heard Echo quietly trailing him, her head low and wings tight to her sides. Hiccup tried to keep his outer demeanor confident and calm but on the inside he wanted to run around happily like a little kid, the new Night Fury was finally starting to trust him! But now was not the time for excitement, not if Toothless was missing. He made his was around the village instead of going through as to not draw any unwanted attention to his new companion. He crossed the bridge to the dragon training arena where Echo stopped outside, making quiet unsettled roars as she paced back and forth before the stone ramp that led into the arena. "Come on Echo don't bail on me now." Hiccup said, "I agree the training arena can look a little scary to a dragon at first," especially considering what it was used for before we befriended dragons Hiccup added mentally "But I promise, it's safe, Toothless comes in here all the time." Echo stopped her movement to give Hiccup a face that said 'that dragon would walk around in a strange human house if they offered him a trout.' "It's not that bad, lots of dragons sleep in here over night. In fact you might make some new friends." Hiccup said opening the gate and stepping backwards into the stone arena. Reluctantly the night fury followed, jumping back at the noise of someone opening the chain net covering the top. "Oooo is that was I think it is?" Asked the exited high pitch of Fishlegs's voice from the entrance. Whorling and hissing Echo leapt backwards, fluttering her wings as if wondering to flash out the undersides or not. "If you're thinking a very wild and untamed female night fury than, yes." Hiccup replied, glancing at Echo who snarled, snapping her teeth, as Fishlegs tried to get closer. "Echo, meet Fishlegs, he's probably the best human you could find yourself snarling at. Fishlegs, meet Echo, you might not want to go near her until she decides to trust you." "Oh, I just thought since she's here it means you tamed her, but, I guess she could have followed Toothless to the village maybe? Or wait, where is Toothless?" Fishlegs asked, cutting himself off to look around. "That's actually why I found her. I woke up early this morning to see if I could watch them together for a little while but when I looked into the cove she was alone, I started searching the island and she came out to find me, clearly she hasn't seen Toothless either, the first thing she did was follow my sent back to the village where she tried to follow Toothless's trail. We lost it about half way to the cove, I convinced her to come here so I could talk with the rest of the gang." "Oh no that terrible! I'll go get everyone else!" Fishlegs said, using one hand to hold onto his tiny helmet as he turned and ran out. "See he's not so bad." Hiccup tried, the she-fury hissed, glaring at Hiccup. The noise of Hookfang waking made her jump again. "Don't worry it's just Hookfang, he's not going to do anything." Hiccup said, holding out his hands to try to calm her. "We heard from Fishlegs what did you want to talk about." Astrid said sprinting down into the arena. Growling low in her throat Echo backed against the wall. "Yeah. I was in the middle of a wonderful breakfast. And you do not want to get between me and my breakfast Hiccup. You do not." Snotlout said, crossing his arms. "Woah is that what I think it is?" Tuffnut asked, "Hey I wonder if she can do that dart thing on me!" "Oh yeah... Here dragon dragon! Shoot Tuffnut girl! Yeah!" Ruffnut said, grabbing Tuffnut and shoving him at Echo. The night fury reared back, hissing, before scampering to the other side of the arena. Everyone was staring at her except for Hiccup and Astrid. "Wow. I thought you were making that thing about the under side of her wings up." Snotlout said. The sudden clanking of gears made Hiccup spin around to see Ruffnut pulling the lever to open all of the dragon cages. "Uh Ruff that might not be the best idea, she doesn't really like other dragons either-" Hiccup cautioned. "This dragon doesn't like anything." She said coming back over. Barf, Belch, Hookfang, Stormfly, and Meatlug crowded around Echo, making curious chirps and clicks. Echo eyed them warily, shifting back a little. She hissed as Hookfang, Barf, and Belch started getting too close, batting away one of the two zippleback heads. Stormfly chirped loudly, snapping her fangs at the other dragons and herding them off. Turning back to Echo she trilled softly and Echo replied with a quiet purr, tilting her head at the nadder. "Astrid we're going to need Stormfly to find Toothless." Hiccup said, turning back to his friends seriously. At the mention of Toothless Echo and Stormfly both perked up. "Right. When do we start searching?" Astrid said, jogging to grab Stormfly's saddle. "Now. While the trail is still relatively fresh."