The Great Endeavor - A Tuffnut Love Story (HTTYD/RTTE)

18. Wrong Directions

Endeavor smiled wider, hearing that she was important to Tuff. "And to think you've only known me for a little over a week," she teased him. They both laughed, then an awkward silence fell between them. At least, awkward for Tuffnut. Endeavor didn't ever seem to feel awkward or nervous, and it helped Tuff to relax as well. They continued to walk the tunnels, talking about random things and bonding as they looked for clues.

• • •

The walls of the caves began to glow brighter after hours of wandering the tunnels. Endeavor stopped walking and placed her hands on her hips. "Well, this was pointless," she sighed in frustration.

Tuffnut smiled though. "Not completely," he disagreed, "I liked getting to spend some time with you."

Endeavor gave him a sweet smile. "Oh, I did too, I just meant," she explained, not wanting him to think that she hated being with him, "there are no clues." She walked over to a wall of the tunnel they were in and leaned back against it, crossing her arms.

Tuffnut, made his way over to her and copied, leaning right beside her. He watched the glowing walls sparkle and observed, "it really does look like stars."

Looking around them, Endeavor smiled. "Yeah, it does," she agreed, "I've never taken the time to really admire the glow, but it's actually...beautiful."

Tuff pushed himself off the wall and spread his arms out, grinning wide as he exclaimed, "it's like we're in the sky!"

Seeing his excitement, Endeavor laughed. When he turned back toward her, his eyes shone bright are the sound of her laugh. Endeavor pushed off the wall as well. She approached Tuff until she stood right in front of him, then proceeded to take his hand into hers. "We're quite far from the stars," she reminded him teasingly.

Tuffnut's excited grin morphed into a shy smile. Endeavor's eyes were level with his and just inches away. He told himself that this was it, he was going to do it; he was going to kiss her. And if she slapped him, at least he'd have tried. But as he prepared himself to lean in, Endeavor's face changed. Her eyes widened and she almost shouted, "oh my gods, that's it!"

His own eyebrows raised out of surprise. "W-what?" He stuttered.

"Tuff, you're a genius!" Endeavor exclaimed. She tugged on his hand and began to run back to the meeting place. "Come on, we have to find the others."

It was quite disappointing to Tuffnut, having lost his chance. But on the bright side, she didn't let go of his hand. "It's the stars!" She shouted in excitement, "I always knew these tunnels looked like stars, I just never took the hint!" A laugh erupted from her throat as she continued to drag Tuff behind her.

"What about the stars?" Tuffnut asked in confusion, still discombobulated by the sudden change of moods.

"The stars--" Endeavor began, but was cut off as a large snake slithered out in front of them from a seperate tunnel. It's seven black heads hissed in sync, ready to strike. Endeavor instinctively kicked the snake away harshly.

The creature went flying backwards, hitting a tunnel wall with an awful crunch. Endeavor wasted no time in morphing into her speed stinger form. Three tails sprouted from her lower back, her hands and feet grew long talons, and her teeth extended into numerous long fangs. She stabbed the snake with her most poisonous tail and let them sink back into her back.

But through her excitement, Endeavor accidentally didn't fully change back to a human. Some of her dragon features stayed, including dragon-like pupils in her blue eyes and small talons in place of her finger nails. "Woah, are you okay?" Tuff asked nervously, "I've never seen you act like this before."

"You've also never seen me so close to figureing out this island," Endeavor responded, showing off the slightly pointed speed stinger teeth that remained in her mouth. "Hah!" She yelled wildly as she  took Tuff's hand back into hers and began to run once again. Within minutes, they'd made it back. The others were also just getting back, and they were quite alarmed by Endeavor's state.

"Uh, Endeavor?" Fishlegs wondered in shock. The girl released Tuff and went over to the riddle on the wall. She slammed one clawed hand against it and smiled wide. However, looking back at the others, she realized how terrifying a grin of fangs probably looked. She composed herself as best as she could letting her dragon characteristics go back to human.

"Sorry, I was just so excited," she explained with an innocent smile, "Tuffnut helped me figure something out!"

"What?!" Astrid exclaimed.

Hiccup smiled excitedly and turned to the male twin. "What did you find?" He asked.

"Uh, I'm not sure..?" Tuff responded awkwardly, "Endeavor hasn't told me yet."

Hiccup raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Look around us," Endeavor began to finally explain, "Tuff said to me that it looks like we're in a night sky. And the words in the riddle, the 'wrong' means 'wrong direction'" She let her gaze land on each person before continuing, "I dug down to find an escape. I was supposed to go up, to the stars."