Fly On Your Own

Chapter 2

"Oh, it was..." Valka searched for the right word for a moment, one that wouldn't blatantly insult Snotlout. "Indescribable. And please, call me Valka. It has been a year."

"First-name basis." Slightly disgusted, I decided now would maybe be a good time to bow out and take care of my other business.

"I think the real hero of the day was Toothless." I scoffed at my husband. "Isn't that right, bud? What would we do without you, O king of dragons? What would we do?"

"Well, we could train a lot harder, for one," I piped up, attempting to bring everyone back to the issue at hand. "That was pretty sloppy."

I watched as Snotlout and the twins' expressions twisted up into confused snarls, as though they couldn't see a single flaw in what we'd done.

"Reign, uh. Reign has a point," Val chimed in. "Perhaps you all rely a little bit too much on your dragons and not enough on one another."

Well, I hadn't expected her to say that.

"See? That's exactly what I was saying. Listen up, guys." Of course, everyone just ignored Snotlout, only eliciting a few eye rolls and nothing more. Still riding his high, Snotlout backed up toward Hiccup, wearing a big smirk on his face. "Yeah, your mom's super-impressed with me. I'm like the son she's always wanted."

"Shut up, Snotlout," I growled, sending him scattering with a single glare. "What a muttonhead."

I was about to suggest to Hiccup that the two of us head home, when Fishlegs suddenly cried out for the baby Gronckle he carried around in his armor pouch. I looked in their direction just in time to see Fishmeat scramble out across the grass to the Crimson Goregutter. Surprisingly, the large dragon didn't try to scare off the baby, but what actually happened was far worse: the two dragons began to jump around, but their carelessness caused the larger of the two to knock straight into a dragon perch. It fell unceremoniously, destroying buildings and other perches in a domino effect until the last one fell into the water.

Hiccup and I grimaced as we watched, preparing for at least one person to start yelling.

"What good is having the King of Dragons around if he can't keep the order?" Sure enough, the understandable frustration came from Gobber.

"Hey, bud, do you wanna do something here?" Hiccup prompted Toothless, causing him to run over to the two dragons and start roaring at them in a scolding manner. That one was going to be a real pain to clean up. "And where do you suppose we put these ones?"

"Eh, we'll make room," Hiccup dismissed, ever the optimist.

Out of nowhere, Gobber screamed and swung his arm out, decking Hiccup right in the stomach.

"You brought back a Hobgobbler," he quivered. "They're a bad omen. We're cursed."

"Nonsense," Valka laughed, making her way over to the small dragon to pick it up. "What harm could he do? No injuries. They're all a little shaken-up, but otherwise healthy. Now, who's hungry?"

That was our cue. I tapped Hiccup and nodded in the direction of our hut, then the both of us turned and headed up to our home. Complete silence wrapped around Hiccup and I as I opened the door, something rare around the hut these days. Before heading into the nursery, the two of us quickly dashed into our room to pull off our armor; not only was it irritating and heavy, but we'd probably scare our unsuspecting babysitter if we walked in looking like a dragon-human hybrid. After each of us hung the armor back up, I opened the connecting door and smiled. Eret had somehow managed to stay awake this time, waiting for our return.