How To Save Your Trapper [An Eret Love Story]

Chapter Seven

Hiccup and Toothless crashed into the powdery snow after another failed solo gliding venture. Hiccup wanted to impress his mother with his own dragon riding skills. But Toothless was still having trouble with quick maneuvers because of his mechanical tail fin. And Hiccup had a knack for finding gliding spots with dangerous obstacles. Toothless recovered from the impact and sat up, looking for Hiccup safe in his arms. But when he couldn't find his young rider, Toothless began to panic and search the snow furiously. In the midst of the hasty search, Hiccup popped out of the snow, cheering from the adrenaline rush.

Hiccup staggered to his feet, exclaiming, "Man! Almost! We just about had it that time!" Toothless shook the snow off his head and sneezed before glaring at Hiccup. Using his tail, Toothless swiped Hiccup's feet out from under him. Hiccup stood from the snow once more just as Valka landed with Cloudjumper. She rushed over to her son and examined his handy work.

"Incredible!"

Hiccup chuckled at his mother's enthusiasm. "Well, not bad yourself," he replied, referring to how comfortable she was, standing on Cloudjumper's back, and how skilled she was with all the dragons.

"All this time, you took after me," Valka said softly before her face turned grim. "And where was I? I'm so sorry, Hiccup. Can we start over? Will you give me another chance? I can teach you all I've learned, these past twenty years. Like...."

Valka trailed off as she approached Toothless and began to massage a spot on his neck. Out of nowhere hidden split fins popped up along Toothless's spine.

"Now you can make those tight turns," Valka said to either boy.

Hiccup was stunned and playfully asked Toothless, "Did you know about this?"

As Toothless got used to his new fins, Valka explained, "Every dragon has its secrets. And I'll show them all to you. We'll unlock every mystery, find every last species, together, as mother and son."

Hiccup and Valka watched on in amusement as Toothless jumped around in excitement at the discovery. Not knowing what else to do with himself, Toothless dived into the snow before popping up next to an unamused Cloudjumper who was now covered in snow. Cloudjumper tipped his head, letting the snow land back on Toothless. Without a care, Toothless shook off the snow and showed off his new fins to Cloudjumper who looked on with an unimpressed expression.

Taking her attention away from the two dragons, Valka turned to her son. "This gift we share, Hiccup... it bonds us. This is who you are, son. Who we are. We will change the world for all dragons! We will make it a better, safer place!"

"Yeah! I mean... that... sounds... amazing!" Emotions took over as Hiccup and Valka embraced. "This is so great! Now you and I can go talk to Drago..." Hiccup exclaimed before pulling away to look his mother in the eye. "Together."

Valka was taken aback by Hiccup's outlandish plan, knowing better than confronting a man like Drago. "What? There's no talking to Drago."

Hiccup was tired of hearing people saying that. "But we have to-"

"No," Valka asserted, "We must protect our own. Now come on, we should be getting back." As Valka walked away, Hiccup scoffed and rolled his eyes, having heard that one too many times from his father and friends. Why couldn't anyone see that he could talk sense into this man? Why does war have to be the only option? A strange noise caught Hiccup's attention. He looked over to see Toothless flapping his new fins while grinning from ear to ear. Figuring there was no more use arguing, Hiccup led Toothless in the direction Valka went.

Miles away, as Revna and her friends finally arrived at Drago's camp, a pit formed in Eret's stomach. He knew he had to do whatever it took to escape, to get as far away from here as possible, or Drago would surely kill him. A plan formulated in his mind. Once the purple beast dropped him, he'd make a run for it. No telling if it'll work, but Eret had to try.