A Siren's Song - A Hiccup Love Story (HTTYD/RTTE)

15

"Oh my gods," Astrid exclaimed, "how did we never notice this before?"

Hiccup and Aldru looked up at the moon. "The moon is almost full," Hiccup observed, "maybe it only work under strong moonlight."

He was probably right, and that meant they'd only have a few nights to study the lense until the next full moon. But none of that mattered; Aldru could feel her answers getting closer once again, and this time she knew that she'd get them.

She watched Hiccup open his notebook and begin copying as much of the projection as he could. "It doesn't make much sense right now," Hiccup admitted, "and we'll need Fishlegs to help translate the language..but we finally have it."

Although it took quite a long time, he got it all done that night. The moon was setting when he finished, and he and Aldru were exhausted. The events of the day before, plus staying up all night, called for a long day's rest for the both of them. And so, that is what they did.

• • •

Today had been quite the day. Astrid came home from out scouting mission looking feverish, and it was soon confirmed that a long buried plague had been resurfaced on an old fishing ship. Now, the riders and Aldru were in search of the possibly-extinct Buffalord dragon; the cure.

"Is that one?" Hiccup yelled as they soared over island.

Fishlegs looked from his book to the dragon below with an excited shout, "I think it is!"

Everyone landed right away. But it turned out, they weren't the only ones looking for the Buffalord. "Hunter ships!" Aldru shouted as she noticed the enemy ships docked nearby.

Within minutes, hunters were everywhere. Astrid laid on the ground, pail and weak. Aldru sat beside her, glaring at the hunters. Then, Viggo approached. "I see you had a run-in with my fishing boat," he observed, looking at the very sick Astrid.

Hiccup wanted to attack Viggo right there, but the riders were greatly out numbered. "Just let us cure her," Hiccup insisted.

"And miss out on the chance to have one less of you to deal with?" Viggo asked, a smirk on his lips, "I don't think so."

His men began to haul the unphased Buffalord dragon away. But Aldru wasn't having that. She stood up and ran at Viggo, a sudden wave of passionate fury taking her over; she had to protect that buffalord, and save Astrid. Caught off guard, Viggo was knocked to the ground, Aldru on top of him. She grabbed a knife from her belt, unaware of the hunters preparing their crossbows.

"Aldru, don't!" Snotlout shouted.

She would risk anything to protect her friend, but she still stopped. Instead, Aldru held the weapon at Viggo's neck threateningly. There was a look of fear in Viggo's eyes, but not fear for his own life. He looked to his men and yelled, "don't shoot!"

But one of the hunters had, in fact, shot. With lightning speed, Viggo tossed Aldru off of him. And when she got up, she was shocked to see Viggo with an arrow in his leg. The hunter who shot went pail.

Viggo flinched, but came to his feet. He shot his men a death glare before meeting Aldru's eyes across the feild. She recognized this look, for it was the same face she saw when she flew away for the hunter ship after being released. "Let them cure their friend," Viggo spoke with reluctance. He then limped back to his ship, holding his leg.

Hiccup ran over the the Buffalord's mouth to collect it's saliva. Astrid drank the green liquid and was immediately better. Everyone one sighed in relief as her skin began to fill back in with color. "Thank Odin you're okay," Hiccup breathed.

Astrid came to her feet and punched him playfully and joked, "it's gonna take a lot more than a plague to take me out."

Aldru laughed, and Astrid laughed; everyone laughed. But not everyone realized that Viggo had just taken an arrow for Aldru. Everyone believed it was a coincidence in their favor. Everyone but Hiccup; Hiccup, who new how Viggo thought, and knew how perfectly planned everything that Viggo would do was.

He couldn't help but wonder why the vicious leader of the dragon hunters would risk his own life to save Aldru. Aldru, who, to a man like Viggo, was just another dragon.

• • •

"Aldru, please stop moving," Fishlegs pleaded with the green and purple dragon. He dragged his charcoal over a sheet of paper, capturing every detail of Aldru's dragon form.

Finally, he finished. "There; what do you think?" He asked, turning the paper so that Aldru could see it. She squawked in approval and nudged his leg. "Alright, a deal's a deal," he responded with an amused smile. He then tossed her a good sized salmon, which happened to be her favorite.

After gobbling down to fish, Aldru crawled out of the club house and flew down to the stables. There, the twins were playing toss-the-sheep. Aldru wiggled, readying to pounce, then jumped up and grabbed the sheep out of the air.

"Hey, no fair!" Ruffnut protested.

Aldru gurgled as if to laugh the flicked the sheep with her tail. The ball of wool went flying toward the entrance, but before going right over the edge, Hiccup rounded the corner just in time to get a face full of wool.

He swatted at his face and watched in confusion as the sheep waddled away. "What is going on in here?" Hiccup's stern voice echoed through the stables.

Tuffnut pointed at Aldru and accused, "don't look at us, Aldru started it." Aldru nipped Tuff on the leg, causing him to yelp.

"Yeah I find that hard to believe," Hiccup retorted, rolling his eyes, "you two go make sure that sheep gets back to the pen."

Tuff sighed and Ruff stuck her tongue out, but the two left the stables and did as they were told.

Now, Hiccup crossed his arms and looked down at Aldru. "Why do you have to encourage them?" He questioned. Aldru gurgled gently and weaved around his legs playfully. Hiccup couldn't help but smile, though he tried hard to hide it. "Come on," he begged, "I'm still mad at you."

But Aldru knew that wasn't true. She stood on her back legs and stretched out her neck. Fully stretched up, she could just barely touch Hiccup's chin with her snout. She nudged him and came back down onto all fours.

"No," Hiccup said, trying to hold his ground. But when Aldru rolled over exposing her belly, he just couldn't. It was a playful and dramatic thing she would do to say, you win, I surrender.

Hiccup sighed and sat on the ground with a sideways grin, muttering quietly, "ah, who am I kidding.."