Somewhere Only We Know

Chapter 4: The Message Received

As Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III walked into the cove, he suddenly noticed that the Night Fury he had befriended just a day earlier, could not be seen anywhere. Hiccup had named him 'Toothless' for his retracted teeth. He was sure the dragon couldn't have flown out of the cove, because one of his tail fins was completely gone, and that's why Hiccup had spent his time in the blacksmith shop last night, making a brand new tail fin, so that Toothless could be able to fly into the sky again. He also brought an enormous woven basket of fish, as Hiccup was positive Toothless would be very hungry. Unfortunately, he couldn't see the black dragon, and so he called out the name he came up with yesterday.

"Toothless! Where are you?" Hiccup shouted, hoping for a sound.

Luckily, he heard the dragon growl loudly behind a large rock. When Hiccup found Toothless, the dragon was looking at something strange, a thing Hiccup didn't even know what it was supposed to be. It seemed to be a long wooden pole, with a box attached at the top. The sides were rectangle-shaped, while the top was triangle-shaped. He also noticed that the box had some sort of door, and so, very slowly, Hiccup decided to open it to see what the box had, as he pulled the little knob on the door, and took a peek inside to see if anything was there. Surprisingly there was a small folded white sheet of paper, and when Hiccup open unfolded it, he suddenly realized what it was. It was a letter! Hiccup immediately got started to reading it.

Dear Person From The Outside World,

Every year on my birthday, I have seen many lights float up into the sky, and I can't help but feel like they're meant for me, and so, it's important I have to know what they are, because you should know that it's been my one and only dream to see these floating lights up close and in person.

When you have answer, please make sure to write back. Once you put the letter in the mailbox, you raise the flag, and when you receive a letter, you lower the flag. Thank you so much, and I can't wait.

Sincerely, Someone Who Loves To Dream.

After reading, Hiccup immediately lowered the mailbox, and Hiccup thought about what this someone was talking about.

"Floating lights?" Hiccup wondered, and then forgot about it.

"Oh, Toothless," Hiccup cooed, walking toward the dragon with the basket on his back. Hiccup grunted as he heaved the basket of fish in front of the Night Fury.

"I brought you some breakfast, I hope you're hungry...," Hiccup told the dragon. Toothless looked very eager to eat his breakfast, as Hiccup kicked the basket over and the fish spilled all over the ground. Toothless licked his lips and stuck his nose in the pile of fish.

"Okay, that's disgusting," Hiccup said as he made his way behind Toothless.

"We've got salmon, some Icelandic cod, and a whole smoked eel!" Hiccup said, naming the fish that Toothless was about to dig in to. At the word 'eel', however, Toothless suddenly growled and drew back.

"Don't like eel?" Hiccup said, holding up the slimy black and yellow striped fish. Toothless let out a shriek of disgust.

"Okay!" Hiccup said, tossing the eel away. "Yeah, I'm not a fan either…"

With the eel gone, Toothless began snapping down on the fish.

"Yes, that's it...don't mind me," Hiccup said softly as he walked behind the dragon toward his injured tail.

"I'll just be back here…minding my own business…" Hiccup said as he set the artificial fin down beside the empty spot where the left fin should have been and moved the fin against the tail. At that moment, Toothless moved his tail to the side. Hiccup quickly looked at him, but he didn't seem to notice what Hiccup was doing. Hiccup moved the fin toward his tail again, but again he moved it away.

"Toothless, this won't work unless you stay still!" Hiccup said in frustration, sitting down on his tail and strapping the fin to his tail.

Behind Hiccup, Toothless stuck his head in the basket, nosing around to see if there were any missed fish. His thrashing made it quite difficult to attach the fin, but Hiccup eventually did it. Toothless suddenly stopped moving, and the basket dropped from his face to reveal a surprised expression. He wiggled his tail, felt the fin, and dropped his wings in shock. The human had made him a new fin? To fly with?

"There!" Hiccup said happily, staring at his handiwork. Hiccup reached down and unfurled the fin, not noticing Toothless's wings unfurling behind him getting ready for takeoff.

"That's not too bad. It works," Hiccup said with satisfaction. At that moment, Toothless shoved off and shot into the air. Hiccup was still on his tail, which meant he went with him. Hiccup screamed as the ground shot away from him and they went higher. Hiccup wrapped his legs around the dragon's tail for dear life.

Through his fear, Hiccup managed to notice that the fin was flapping around uselessly in the air. That meant it wasn't working, and Toothless suddenly buckled and plunged toward the ground without the fin helping him. As the ground approached and both of them screamed, Hiccup shot out a hand and yanked the fin out to the side. They swerved up inches from the ground and shot up into the sky in a controlled swoop.

"Ohmygo—oh, it's—it's working!" Hiccup gasped, and he angled the fin to the side and Toothless flew to the left. He was flying! They were flying!

"Yes! I did it!" Hiccup cheered, and Toothless suddenly realized Hiccup was hanging onto his tail and flicked him off.

Hiccup hit the lake below and plunged deep below the surface. Without Hiccup to extend the fin, Toothless also plummeted into the lake. Hiccup swam to the surface, pumped his fists in the air, and cheered. "YEAH!"

Even though his clothes were clinging to his skin, and his wet hair was hanging into his eyes, Hiccup was in a very good, as the fin he made for Toothless, and he planned to work on a few more things that would help Toothless to get back into the sky and soar through the clouds again. As Hiccup climbed to the top of the cove, he turned around and looked back at the mailbox. He went into his vest, and took out the letter he pulled out from the mailbox, and looked at it.

"Hmm...I believe who ever wrote this letter deserves to have their answer." Hiccup announced.