How to Deal With Amnesia

Chapter 10: Lift Me Up

Hiccup could not believe his sight. The already beautiful island was even more wonderful from the air.

"It's... amazing!"

"Yeah, I know." Astrid said behind him on Toothless. "See? It's not that difficult."

"Oh, it is. And I've seen my notes about flying, I fell like a hundred times before I could get the hang of it."

"Hey, you created a tailfin prosthetic out of nothing, it was obvious you had to get some things wrong before you could get it right. But now, the prosthetic is all done and working properly. Besides, this time you have something you didn't have the first time."

"It's certainly not my memory" He mumbled.

Astrid chuckled. He could be so naive!

"I meant me, you silly. I'm here to help you."

Even sitting behind him, she could see that he smiled at her kind words with red cheeks. Maybe, just maybe, she was starting to do the right thing, he seemed a bit more open to her, and relaxed. Or maybe it was just flying on Toothless that caused him to feel this good. Either way, she leaned closer to him. He was surprised, but soon relaxed again.

Having Astrid behind him like that was somewhat familiar and cozy. He already always admired her and had an attraction to the blond warrior, but this shallow distant feeling was growing bigger, maybe it had been before.

Hiccup was agape as he remembered flashes of something similar, one seemed recent, she almost fell and he had to hold her, and he guessed they were searching for Stormfly. The second time seemed closer to what he remembered, given the fact that he still had both feet, then.

"You know, I think it might be safer to soar above the sea instead of the land. Water is no cushion, but if we fall it's less dangerous than falling on land..."

"Sure, you just need to move the pedal and lean right."

He agreed and pressed the pedal, first it was a wrong position and they end up going left, until he quickly adjusted it to the opposite way and they flew to open sea.

A gust of wind found them and before the flight had the time to get unstable, Hiccup maneuvered the pedal to compensate and keep them still. He frowned. It was automatic, natural... He didn't even had to think... Almost like second nature.

"What's wrong?" Astrid asked when she noticed he was different.

"No... It's just..." He petted the dragon's neck, smiling. "Do I get off your back, Bud?"

"Hiccup, what are you talking about?"

"I may not remember flying, but my body does. I just adjusted it naturally; I didn't have to think about what I had to do to actually do it. I'm probably so used to it that I might spend more time on the air than on land." He joked, happily and excited.

"I guess it's something like that." She chuckled. "I think you're already getting used to it. Maybe I should leave you and Toothless to fly by yourselves a little."

Astrid called Stormfly that was already close to catch them, if needed and so the girl stood up and jumped to the Nadder. Hiccup was a little uncertain to being alone, but the excitement of flying blew the uncertainty away.

"I don't know if I'm already getting used to fly, but I surely like being up here." Hiccup leaned forward to pet Toothless's head. "Come on, Bud, show me what you've got!" The dragon snorted proudly and sped up.

"Hey! Hiccup, wait up!" Astrid yelled making Stormfly go after them. Luckily, the Nadder was used to push herself to go faster and could almost keep up with the Night Fury. "Hiccup, you're not that used to flying, it's dangerous!"