Learning To Fly Away

Chapter 12

Once Eira landed she jumped off Brighteyes and ran over to where Hiccup had landed. The smoke had cleared, and all she saw was Toothless laying down.

"No!" She cried, running to the dragon.

"Hiccup! Son! Eira !" Stoick cried.

He ran through the smoke to see Eira crouched down beside Toothless.

"Eira !" He cried. "Thank Thor you're okay."

He wrapped her in an embrace.

"Hiccup." He said, as if all the air had left him.

He stared at the dragon.

"Oh son, I did this."

The smoke clears fully. Astrid comes running up, eyes welled, and so does Gobber. The village crowds around as well. Salty tear cascade down Eira face.

"No, he can't be gone. He can't be." She cried.

Astrid wrapped her arms around Eira in an effort to calm her, as tears fell down her own face. Toothless began to stir and groggily turns to face Stoick.

"I'm so sorry..." Stoick says softly.

Toothless unfolds his wings to reveal Hiccup lying unconscious.

"Hiccup!" Stoick and Eira cry.

Stoick quickly lifted Hiccup and put his ear to his chest. He heard a heartbeat.

"He's alive!" Stoick cried.

Eira hugged her father, tears of sadness being replaced with tears of relief and happiness.

"You brought him back to life. Thank you... For saving my son." Stoick says to Toothless.

Eira lunges at Toothless, wrapping him in an embrace.

"Thank you, thank you for saving Hiccup." Eira whispered to him.

"Well, most of him." Gobber said.

Stoick gave him a look that said "Are you serious?" while Eira grabbed his helmet and whacked him on the head with his helmet, earning a laugh from Astrid. The whole village rejoiced.

"Right, let's head back." Stoick commanded.

"I'll take Hiccup back Eira , you just get his bed ready." Stoick told his daughter.

"You need to bring Toothless back on a boat, he can't fly. I'll see you back on Berk." Eira told her father.

She then hoped on Brighteyes and rounded up the rest of her troops.

"Alright guys, let's head back to Berk." Eira said.

Snotlout, Fishlegs and the twins sprinted off racing to get home. Astrid hung back with Eira .

"Thanks for having my back there. If you didn't, I would probably be dead." Astrid said.

"You can always count on me for having your back." Eira said to her.

"Same here." Astrid replied. "So, are we like, best friends now?"

"Well, you know what they say. Nothing makes as good a friendship as saving someone from a massive angry dragon." Eira laughed as Astrid joined in.

There was a pause.

"Eira , I know you're worried about Hiccup, but he's going to be fine. He's a fighter." Astrid reassured her.

"But what if he's not? I shouldn't have let him do what he did. I should of caught him. I should have...." Eira rambled but was cut off by Astrid.

"You did what you could, and you helped defeat that dragon. Hiccup is, well, Hiccup. He is as stubborn as they get. There was no way he would have not done it."