Heart of a Chief, Soul of a Dragon

Chapter 9

 We'd gone so far out, the only land was chunks of solid ice and snow, floating in the endless ocean. Cloudjumper did a twirl in the air before he and Valka stopped. Hiccup and I turned around to see the large herd of dragons stopping in mid-air, hovering in anticipation.

"Hey, I-I thought we were going to eat," Hiccup spoke up.

"Oh, we are."

She swung herself around and stood atop her dragon, holding out her hand to completely halt the movement. She smiled eagerly at the two of us just before the sea started rumbling and bubbling below us. Three Sea Shockers circled around the bubbles, interested in whatever their source was. However, they quickly swam out of the way as the Bewilderbeast shot out from the sea and bellowed loudly. It shot water up into the air as it started to fall back down below, causing it to literally rain fish. Valka laughed joyfully as the dragons all dove to catch as much fish as possible.

Toothless looked up at Hiccup with big eyes, asking if he could go after some as well. Hiccup gestured his hand down, signaling him to go ahead, and Toothless suddenly shot down. Shriek looked like she was about to burst if she didn't get her chance to grab some fish, and I wasn't about to stop her. Gently, I tapped my foot against her side, and with that, she dove down. I desperately grabbed at her saddle as the wind bit at my face, my cloak flying out behind me as she snatched several fish out of the air and held them tightly in her cavernous mouth. I found myself laughing uncontrollably, even as Hiccup steered his dragon a little closer, obviously just to check on me.

A playful look crossed his face, and as the other dragons flew back to their home, he steered Toothless down to land on one of the larger masses of ice and snow. I raised an eyebrow at him, but followed behind on Shriek anyways. Hiccup flashed me a mischievous grin, then I found myself crying out as I was suddenly thrown from Shriek's back and into the snow, my back hitting the soft bank. Laughter overtook me again as I sat up and looked at Hiccup's grin.

"You..." I started to stand up, but before I could do anything, Hiccup rolled off of Toothless and pinned me down. "Hiccup, stop, I'm cold!" He picked up some snow from behind my head and threw it down on my chest.

Whether he realized it or not, that made in vulnerable. As his arms recoiled, I reached one leg up and wrapped it around his waist, using the leverage to pin him down. The both of us laughed again, but the fight was over—and I'd won. With that, I pushed myself up to my feet, then extended a hand down to help him do the same.

"Are you okay?" He got closer and placed his hands on my arms.

"Yeah, yeah..." I was still attempting to catch my breath as I smiled at him. "I feel fantastic."

I leaned forward and kissed him as his mother landed, smiling at the two of us.

"Hey, Hiccup, we should show your mom that map you've been working on," I suggested.

"Oh, yeah, you'll love this." He removed the journal from the pocket on his leg and pulled it out to present it to his mother.

Watching the both of them stand together, talk, gesticulate... everything looked exactly the same. Everyone always questioned how Hiccup and his father could possibly be related, and although he certainly had his father's bravery and knack for leadership—despite his own lack of belief in himself—but his mother... that's where his personality came from; that's the parent Hiccup resembled more. They were practically the same person.

Watching the two of them finally getting to meet and learn about each other warmed my heart. And it almost felt so perfectly timed with the rest of our life.