A Little Bit Of Fate

chapter 17: Flying, falling (!) and suspicion!

Slight edits, nothing important: 22/06/2021
Hiccups POV!

"Okay there, bud, we're gonna take this nice and slow!" Wind rushes through my hair and flushes my face with colour. I'm nervous, trying to keep my hands from shaking and my thoughts steady.

But it's a little hard. We're on our first proper flight! The ocean is a just a few meters below us, for now. But we're gonna go higher.
"Here we go. Here we go... position three, no, four!" I say, before checking the chart and pressing my left heel down. The mechanicals shift flawlessly, the tail changing positions.

Toothless slowly starts to turn-glide in a big half circle on an angle, before flying off and righting himself. I bend my head back a few times to check on the tail. It's doing alright- a little flimsy in the wind but otherwise okay. I can work on some reinforcements after this.

I turn around once more before looking back at the tail. I look forward.
Okay, it's good. Trust yourself.

"Alright, it's go time. It's go time!" I tell Toothless, before slowly leaning forward to encourage him to dive.

Toothless dips down slowly and smoothly, and dives. We level out over the water, his left wing briefly dipping in as we fly towards a sea stack.

"Come on, buddy, come on, buddy! " I exclaim.

We fly forward, picking up a bit of speed, and maintain our stabilised flight.

"Yes! Yes, it worked!" I cheer... then I accidentally crash Toothless into one of the sea stacks on the left.

"Sorry, Bud!" I wince, just before I accidentally fly him into another sea stack.
Oh that's gotta hurt!
"Sorry, again. That was my fault!" I apologise, just before Toothless hits me with his ear lobe.
Yeah, I kind of I deserved that.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm on it. Position four, uh, three. " I say, changing the tail position and we pull into a steep climb. It feels awesome! A huge grin is plastered on my face as we ascend higher and higher.

I've never experienced anything like this, ever. What have I been missing out on?!

"Yeah! Go baby! Yes! Oh, this is amazing! The wind in my..."
Then the wind blows my cheat sheet right out of its spot and I feel my stomach drop. "CHEAT SHEET! STOP!!" I cry out.
Oh NO!

Toothless obeys, slowing right down. We come to a peak as I try to catch it before it flies away. I snatch it, and relief hits me, but suddenly I feel... weightless. I snap my gaze down to see that the safety cord has unhooked itself. I fall, along with Toothless.
OH MY GODS!

I try to reach the saddle but I get smaked with Toothless tail as he spins. Oh no I'm gonna die! We're gonna die!

"NOOOOOO!!! Oh, gosh! Oh, gods! Oh, no! Alright! You gotta..kinda..angle yourself! Okay, no, no, no... come back down towards me! Come back down-- YOW!" I try to calm down and direct Toothless as we both plummet. This isn't working.

I need to do something, and fast.
Finally I get a good grip on the saddle and I pull myself down onto it. My legs find the stirrups as I reattach myself. The cheat sheet slams up into my face. I rip it away with one hand, the other gripping the saddle. Toothless screeches a warning. We're going too fast.

I pull back, trying to slow our descent.
I need both hands to steer. I have to... I have to lose the sheet!

I scan the sheet, desperately trying to memorise it as a last-ditch attempt, before I toss the sheet away to the wind. We swerve swifty through rocks with a flash, and I swiftly change tail positions when it feels natural to. I don't think, just concentrating on staying on and letting my instincts kick in, The air whips harshly across my face but I don't care- I'm trying not to kill us.

We swerve through the last one. We leave the fog and climb a little higher. I look ahead for more but thankfully there's none there.
We...made it?! We made it!

I sit up. "YEEAHHH!" I cheer to our survival, pumping my fists into the air.
Toothless shoots a plasma blast in victory and it explodes in front of us. I stare ahead, accepting my fate as we float through the fire. "Aww, come on!"
You just had to.

Astrid's POV.
I stealthily creep into the great Hall to eavesdrop on a meeting the chief is holding. I lean against the wall beside the door, silent and careful, behind the crowd that are listening to Chief Stoick (whom is on top of a table, by the way).
I'm not allowed to be in here right now, as it's a private meeting for the 'adults' of Berk.

"...Yeah. So that's the story. Maybe we'll find it next time. Though, I have good news! I have heard that my son is doing well in dragon training! Yes, yes, I know. Its a shocker to me too. Never thought the little fishbone could do well. Right?! (*crowd laughs*) . I will be watching him eagerly. I might even give him a helmet tonight! Well, that's it! Just keep an eye on him for me, some suspicious actively has been reported but I'm sure it's nothing important. Okay so moving on now...the farming problem..." Stoick's voice booms around the hall. I sneak back out angrily.

If he isn't doing anything- I will!

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Thanks for reading :)
Obviously the video is not mine, okay?! :)
sorry this chapter was short and kind of boring.... if you have suggestions, I'm open to them!
Bye :)