I Am Dragonblood: Alpha and Chief {Book Two} (HTTYD Fanfic)

Chapter Five - Born Different

Valka's idea of feeding time was for the massive Bewilderbeast to spew thousands of fish into the air, while dragons of all kinds dipped and dove around catching as many as they could. Toothless had a great time stuffing at least twenty of the slippery creatures in his mouth at once.
When their dragons had had their fill they soared up away from the flock, catching updrafts on their strong wings. Valka, crouched on Cloudjumper's back, spread her arms wide as if it was she who was flying. 'When I'm up here I don't even feel the cold. I just feel...'
'Free,' Hiccup finished for her.
'This is what it's like to be a dragon, Hiccup,' she said, a mischievous glint in her eyes.
Hiccup caught the glint, wondering what she was planning. 'It's all well and good to call yourself a dragon,' he said, a mischievous glint in his own eyes. He locked Toothless's tail and stood up on the saddle. 'But can you fly?' He leapt off and spread his flightsuit wings, pushing down the urge to shift and fly instead of glide. He flipped over onto his back and looked up, seeing Toothless and Cloudjumper flying above him, silhouetted on the pale sky.
But no Valka.
Hiccup heard her laugh and looked to his left. There she was, rising up beside him on wings of her own. They were red Stormcutter wings, the same colour as her hair, powerful looking yet graceful at the same time. On her head she had two sweeping horns, almost exactly like her dragon's ones. She laughed again at the shocked look on his face and swooped over to his other side.
Hiccup Shifted to his hybrid form, black wings extending from his back, glad to be able to stretch out. He folded the fabric wings back in but left the fin, curious to see what it would do to his flight.
Valka brushed his wingtip with her own, a broad smile lighting her face. Hiccup gazed at her disbelievingly, unable to comprehend what his eyes were telling him.
'You're... You're like me,' he stammered.
Her grin widened even more. 'All this time you took after me.'
Hiccup shook his head, still amazed. 'What - why are we like this?' The question, "what am I", had been nagging him for ten years. He'd searched through books and scrolls, looking for anything similar to his situation, but found only vague references to humans becoming "beastlike" in old stories. Now, finally, was his chance to find out who he was.
'You and me, we were born this way,' Valka told him, wisps of escapee hair streaming behind her. 'A lot of people would call us monsters, demons, but really all we are are people with the soul of a dragon. Our kind are known as Dragonbloods, maybe because our blood is the same dark red as dragons, or maybe for old tales sake of a good name.' She looked at her son, her green, slitted pupil eyes now had a tinge of yellow to them. 'We used to be revered, Hiccup. But then some mad Dragonblood must have turned on their clan, and we have been scorned ever since, to the point of being hunted down like boar.'
Dragonblood. He finally knew what he was. Who he was. A human with the soul of a dragon. He chuckled with the shear relief that knowing brought, sounding slightly hysterical. He and his mother grinned at one another, happier now than they had been in a long time.
'Hiccup!' Toothless shouted. 'Rock ahead!' A snow covered seastack emerged from the low lying mist, nye on invisible except for the whiter solidness of snow-ice. Hiccup flipped over onto Toothless, struggling to lock his metal foot into the tail mechanism. He pulled the lever to manual and moved the tail fin to turn away from the rock they were fast approaching. There was a grind of metal but no movement, and he looked back to see the red fabric frozen solid. 'Ohhhh no, looks like we're going to hit the snow.'
'Why is it always me who crashes headlong into it?' Toothless growled.
They hurtled down and smashed into a snowdrift, flaky ice spraying everywhere. Toothless scrambled up and looked down at his tail fin sticking out of the snow, thinking it was Hiccup's flightsuit fin. Hiccup himself burst up from the snow by Toothless's head, spattering him with snow and making the dragon sneeze.
'Man! We nearly had it that time, if it weren't for the frozen tail.'
Toothless glared at his rider and knocked him over with a swipe of his tail. 'Thank you for nothing, you useless human.'
Valka set down gracefully and pulled Hiccup back up. 'Incredible,' she breathed, examining his wings and fin.
'Not bad yourself,' he said, winding the fin back up. He looked up into her eyes and she smiled sadly.
'Oh Hiccup, I'm so sorry for not being there for you. Can we start over? I can teach you all that I've learned these past twenty years, if you like...' She moved to Toothless and massaged a spot behind his ear, causing him to arch his back like a cat and the spikes along his spine to suddenly split in half. 'Now you can make those tight turns.'
'What did you...?' Toothless looked back at himself and saw the double spines. 'Why did I not know about this?!'
'Every dragon has its secrets,' Valka laughed as Toothless burrowed into the snow and leapt out beside Cloudjumper, flinging snow onto the Stormcutter. Cloudjumper promptly dumped the white stuff onto the Fury's head.
'This gift we share, Hiccup...' His mother said with a smile. 'It bonds us. This is who you are, son... Who we are.'
'This is... Amazing.'
Valka nodded in agreement. 'Come,' she said, taking to the air. 'We should be getting back.'
'But Toothless's tail... Nevermind,' Toothless had just melted the ice off.
'Ready to try out these spines?' The Fury asked excitedly, hopping from foot to foot. Hiccup climbed into the saddle and they followed Valka and Cloudjumper, who were swooping around each other as they headed back to the Sanctuary, they're Stormcutter wings making light work of the air currents.

1043 words

Comments welcome :D

≈Flitt