How To Win The Soul of A Dragon

Chapter 3

I began getting worried. 

 The clouds were blocking our vision, and I feared we had lost their track. But, then, a blast of plasma was fired underneath us, and it gave me enough time to notice the Night Fury and the mysterious rider gliding across the ocean. I sighed in relief, and Thunderlight flew down, closer to them.

The dragon continued blasting plasma a few more times and the rider glided over them every time, before reaching a foggy area.

"This is amazing!" yelled the rider, but then a large sea stack came into view "No longer amazing! Toothless!" 

That was Hiccup's dragon's name, Toothless. But I wasn't entirely sure whether I had heard right, or it was just my mind playing tricks on me. I missed them so much that it wouldn't have surprised me. 

But what would Hiccup and Toothless even be doing in the middle of nowhere? It sounded so insane, that I chose to ignore it. 

My eyes focused back on the scene developing in front of me: the Night Fury was struggling to reach his rider, the prosthetic tail probably had something to do with it. It really limits movement, I should know. Or, rather, Thunderlight should know.

"C'mon, bud!" I said to my dragon, and we rushed to reach the rider. We would have caught him, if the Night Fury hadn't fired towards some rocks, forcing us to move out of the way so we wouldn't get hit.

When the last rock finally fell to the water, the dragon and his rider were rolling down the hill of an island. After some minutes, they finally hit flat ground. We followed them towards a cliff, and  hid behind some bushes on a hill as we watched closely what was happening.

"That really came out of nowhere!" exclaimed the man. I turned around to see that the rocks the Night Fury had hit were crumbling and falling down, but the rider didn't seem to care much, because he just turned away and started to unhook the flaps of his leather suit. Then, he grabbed a dial on his chest, winding it so the fin could retreat back to his armor "We-we really gotta work on your solo gliding there, bud. That, uh, locked- up tail makes for some pretty sloppy rescue maneuvers, hey?" he took of his helmet and fixed his hair, but I couldn't recognize him. Not even a little bit.

The man walked towards the cliff and stared at the beautiful scenery in front of us.

"Ah, looks like we found another one, bud" he motioned to the land. It was pretty breathtaking; I'd never seen anything like it, but my attention was focused on the man's armor. It had lots of compartments: in his legs, arms, chest...It was the work of a skilled person, no doubt about it. I wondered if he had made it himself... 

My thoughts got interrupted by the sound of the Night Fury bellowing, and I focused back on the scene:

The man was lying down on the floor, with the dragon on top of him. When or how that happened, I had no idea.

"He's down! And he's ugly! Dragons and Vikings!" said the man as both swung at the other playfully, making me giggle. "Enemies again! Locked in combat to the bitter-!" the dragon plopped his head on the man's chest, making him groan dramatically.

"They are so cute!" I chuckled, and couldn't help asking myself why we weren't like them. Thunderlight growled and I looked at him  with my eyebrow raised "Calm down, I just said they looked cute"  he just gave me his back and put his head up as if I wasn't there.

Jealous much?

"Oh, you want an apology, Mr. Suddenly over-emotional?" I joked. He looked back at me for a brief second and grunted. I laughed and turned around to look at the brunet man and the black dragon, just as a rock hit me on the back of the head "Hey!" I turned to look at Thunderlight reproachfully, and he let out what sounded like a laugh "You're not getting it anyway" I said, referring to the apology as I threw the rock to the sea; when I turned back, my dragon was coming at me while growling playfully "I'm not afraid, you know?" then, he looked over my shoulder, I did the same, and saw where I was standing: at the beginning of a slope. 

Suddenly, I was a little bit scared.

 "No, Thunderlight!" I scolded. He was coming at me, making me scurry backwards. I took brief looks at my back over and over again to see where I was going "Don't you dare!" he then lunged at me; I tripped and fell backwards, hitting rocks and bushes on my way.

"THUNDERLIGHT!" I yelled, finally reaching the end of the hill and hitting my head with a tree "Ouch!" I said rubbing my head to ease the pain.

Then, I felt a someone sniffing me and trying to see if I was alright: it was him "And now you decide that you care. Yeah, sure" I said standing up, he growled again and I raised my hands in redemption "Fine, fine, I'm sorry! You're the only one cute here!" the last thing I wanted was being pushed towards the ocean, which was the closest thing we had at sight.

He finally calmed down and I lowered my hands slowly "But for the record, that hurt" I said, looking at him reproachfully. He lowered his head remorsefully; at least he had the grace of doing that.

"Hey, you alright?" I looked back and saw the young man approaching me, with his dragon behind who was looking at Thunderlight curiously.

"I'm fine" I said, shaking the earth off my clothes "My dragon here" I gave him a murderous look before turning towards the man again "Is a little bit emotional" 

The mysterious man gazed at him with awe for some seconds. The way he did it seemed familiar. 

"It's a beautiful dragon" I smiled gratefully.

"Thank you" he looked at me again.

"I'm Hiccup, by the way" 

Upon hearing those words, my eyes widened and my heart raced.  What had he said? Hiccup? Suddenly, it all made sense. Toothless and the prosthetic tail... We weren't so lost after all! And I wasn't going crazy thank the gods.

I looked at my best friend, trying to hide my surprise. The Hiccup I had left five years ago was goofier, dumber and adorkable. This Hiccup...Wow! He had grown up! A lot.

"Hiccup?" he nodded. Wow! Just...Wow "Look at you! You are all grown up, and became the best dragon master in the whole wide world" he frowned confused, and gave me a blank look.

"Should I...Should I know you?" he asked, and I giggled.

"No, of course not" I started to walk around in circles while doing hand motions "I'm just that random girl that saved you and your dragon from dying" I turned around "You wouldn't remember me" he narrowed his eyes looking at me, then he looked at Thunderlight, then back at me, then back at Thunderlight, before opening his eyes wide.

"L-Lexa?"

"Who could have guessed? You do remember after all" I said good-heartedly.

"Is that really you?" he narrowed his eyes, as if he wanted to make sure he was seeing me clearly. I didn't think I had changed that much. My hair had just grown a little bit longer, and I had more waves. Obviously, I grew up and my body changed, like most of the girls my age.

"Last time I checked" I said. Then, I wondered when was the last time I had checked myself in the mirror. It was funny to think about it in that situation.

"B-But you're supposed to be dead!" he then looked at Thunderlight "You are supposed to be dead, too!" my dragon tilted his head curiously at his comment. That definitely wasn't the reaction I was expecting.

"Well, here we are" I said nervously.

"Oh, gods, this is all too much..." I frowned.

"Are you not happy to see me?" I asked sadly. Hadn't he missed me? Because I sure had missed him.

"Wha-what? No! I'm happy to see you, I really am" I smiled "I just...Wha-How are you here?"

"It's a long story and I know that you probably have lots of questions, but let me do one thing" he looked at me and nodded. Then, I wrapped my arms around him tightly, burying my head in his shoulder "I've missed you so much" tears were in my eyes as I said that. I started to back off but two warm arms wrapped around me, stopping me.

"I've missed you too"