Fly On Your Own

Chapter 9

        After I'd finally managed to get a decent amount of sleep, I exited Hiccup and my lodgings to try and find him. Vikings and dragons buzzed about, getting to work now that the sun had come up and given us light. I wandered slowly, enjoying the warmth of the morning sun. I found Hiccup at a work station he'd set up at some point, meticulously bent over his project. I eyed the plans Hiccup had drawn out. It looked like he was trying to make an artificial tail fin that Toothless could control on his own. I smirked and moved closer to him, watching as he worked with one hand and kept the twins out of the way with the other.

"Oh. Looks like someone was productive while I was asleep." He briefly looked back at me, smiling.

"Yeah. Well, that Light Fury won't let us within a mile of her." I nodded

"That's very true."

"And neither of us will be getting any sleep or finding the Hidden World until Toothless takes over." Toothless shot up eagerly and pushed Hiccup aside, looking through his magnifying glass at the tail fin. Hiccup and I chuckled, and I made my way over to where Toothless had been lying to pick up the scales he had shedded. "Hey! What do you think of that? Yeah."

Hiccup picked up the cup with the past we'd made to fireproof Hiccup's armor and extended it out to me. I placed the scales inside, and he began to grind them into a powder.

"You tried this once before. He didn't want it."

"Well, up until now, he didn't have a reason to. Right, bud?" I gagged slightly as Toothless spit into the cup, but that's how it became a space. I watched as he continued to mix the paste together, a smile crawling onto my face. He'd changed so much since I first met him, even since the girls had been born. The old Hiccup still showed at times, but this new him, the him ready to be a leader, gave me hope for the future.

His eyes bounced to me a few times, as though trying to figure out whether I was actually looking at him or not.

"What?" he chuckled.

"No, nothing. I'm-- I'm impressed. I mean, look at you, embracing change. I am proud of you." He grabbed the brush he'd been using to paint the tail fin and filled in the last few spots that had yet to be covered in the black mixture.

"Well, he's my best bud. I want him to be happy. And, besides, it's just until he brings her back."

Hiccup carefully picked up the finished tail fin with one arm, making sure not to hit our sleeping daughters slung around his neck. He quickly pecked the top of my head, catching me off guard and bringing another smile onto my face, then passed the sling off to me and stood in front of Gobber. He fanned open the tail and propped it up.

"All right. Fire when ready." Gobber cried out as Toothless shot a plasma blast at the tail, testing its fireproof abilities. The tail fin came away completely unscathed, Gobber had been coated in a thick layer of ash. Unamused, he licked his fingers to put out a smile fire on the hairs of his mustache.

"Well, at least you know the tail is fireproof." Hiccup froze in place for a moment, awkward and unsure of when to move. Once Gobber wandered away, Toothless bounded over to his rider and panted excitedly.

"Okay, Okay! I know, I know, I know." I giggled as I watched Hiccup struggle to keep Toothless still long enough to put his new tail fin on. "Shh. Okay, I know." Hiccup sat down on his dragon's tail and started to secure the straps. However, Toothless' excitement caused him to move his tail back and forth. "Please, this is not helping."

"Well, well, well." I turned my head to see Eret approaching, smiling at the scene in front of him. "Someone's excited." Hiccup sighed, unable to fight the smile on his face.