Fly On Your Own

Chapter 4

"Seriously? And abandon your home of seven generations? The home your father left you to protect; the home we said our daughters would grow up in?" He sighed. "Yeah, I think we need a real solution, Hiccup."

The dragons chittered behind us, causing us to look back and watch as Toothless growled at Shriek when she attempted to get a little too close to his toy, better known as my husband's leg.

"Well, we could just take Gobber's advice and settle down, have another kid. That should fix everything," he deadpanned. "But hey, if you're having doubts about the gene pool of yours truly, I'm pretty sure Snotlout's available." I grimaced at him until a devilish comeback popped into my head.

"He only has eyes for your mom." His eyes went wide as he let out an over-dramatic gasp, pretending to be hurt.

"Oh! Playing dirty now, huh?" He playfully nudged my shoulder with his own, refusing to loosen his grip on his daughter.

"You asked for it," I taunted. "Looks like there might be another member of the Haddock family after all." He quickly moved Alith into one of his arms and reached over, pulling Kerrigan and I against his chest.

"How dare you? That's a low blow!" I tried to push away as I laughed, but he pulled me right back in. "No, no, you are not getting away!" Quickly, I reached around and grabbed onto his free arm, pulling it behind him until he caved. "Okay, okay. You win, you win." I released and he shifted Alith back against his chest. "You always win." I chuckled and leaned over to kiss his cheek.

"You knew what you were getting into."

"Uh-huh. Right."

My affectionate smile grew as I looked to my husband, sitting on my right with Alith in his arms. He clutched her tight against his chest, gently running one hand up and down her little back as he leaned his face against the back of her head. He almost looked as though if he let go, she'd never come back, though I suppose that's how fathers are with their daughters. And I'm sure it helped that Alith was sound asleep in his grasp. Kerrigan, meanwhile, was wide awake. I had her leaned against my legs, which were propped up so I could look at her. Her tiny hands grasped my index fingers, and she turned into a giggling mess as I leaned closer to her and smiled, rubbing my nose against hers. Toothless has been curious about the twins since the moment they were born, but at the same time, seemed to know to keep a distance. We'd cross that bridge in a few years, but for now, Hiccup and I just wanted to spend time with our baby girls. They wouldn't stay like this forever, after all...

"So we're absolutely sure she's blind?"

I turned back to Hiccup, who'd shifted his gaze to me as he scooted closer, now leaning against my side. I sighed and scooped Kerrigan up into one of my arms before turning Alith over in Hiccup's so she was looking up at his face. In response to the change, her green eyes opened, revealing a cloudiness about them. She seemed to know her father was there, but only by touch.

"We're sure. Gothi said she'll eventually develop a sort of sense for where things are around her, but she'll never be able to see." Hiccup leaned down to kiss Alith's forehead, then did the same to his other daughter. I looked at him again and sighed. Sure, things weren't perfect. We hadn't planned on having twins, nor did we realize we were going to have them until that day, but we made it work.

A dragon called faintly in the distance, causing Toothless' head to perk up. He stared off toward the woods beneath us, far more interested in this dragon call than any others on the island. His tail wagged back and forth before he jumped down and floated to the ground. I quickly brought the twins back into their sling as Hiccup put his leg back on, and we stared down at where he'd just gone.

"Uh, bud?" We couldn't see him anymore. "What... Yeah, sure, don't brother to wait for us."

I laughed and scooted myself forward on Shriek, leaving room for him. He climbed on my Thunderdrum and wrapped his arms around my waist, making sure he wouldn't fall off. We descended down under the cover of the trees as the sun completely slipped behind the horizon, giving the environment around us a sort of ominous feel. Shriek crept closer to the sound of the dragons purring, and suddenly stopped when we reached a clearing. Hiccup and I watched the scene before us in astonishment as we moved to duck behind two trees: a white dragon, looking almost exactly like a Night Fury, stood in the middle of a pile of leaves, watching as Toothless circled her curiously. At first, she wouldn't let him near, hissing and snarling the moment he stepped out of what she determined to be his boundaries. However, slowly, he managed to get close enough, and she began to shake her head as her pupils dilated. She backed up a few paces, then accepted Toothless into her space. I tried to contain myself as their faces inched closer, her pupils dilating, until Hiccup snapped a twig beneath him. I looked over and glared at him as the white dragon's pupils narrowed again and she jumped up, shooting a pink blast at the tree between us. Hiccup and I jumped out of the way, and the twins began wailing loudly, suddenly startled by the loud noise. I did my best to calm them as Hiccup emerged from his hiding spot, mystified.

"Oh, my gods." I noticed the Light Fury crouch again, and my instincts suddenly took over.

"Uh, Hiccup!" As she fired again, I jumped forward to push the two of us away, pulling my daughters against my chest with one arm to make sure they wouldn't be harmed. She snarled at us, and I gripped his arm as he attempted to sit up.

"Yeah, yeah, we're... We're friends. No need to kill us." The white dragon scampered away before taking off. Toothless attempted to follow her, but without someone to control his artificial tail fin, he was out of luck. He watched hopelessly as she shot out a blast and... somehow disappeared into the night sky.

"Wow!"

"Another Night Fury."

"No, not quite. It's more like a... a Bright Fury."

"Light Fury," I muttered. Hiccup glanced at me and placed his hands on his hips.

"Yeah, yours is better, probably."

Toothless growled before we called him down and headed home for the night. The twins, as usual, refused to fall asleep, screaming and whining as I secured them in their cribs. I sighed and pulled lightly on some of my hair before an idea popped into my head. Quietly, I began to hum I tune I'd heard long ago. They still cried and protested at first, but as I led into the words, they calmed down.

"The sky is dark and the hills are white as the Storm King speeds from the north tonight." I heard the door creak open behind me. "And this is the song the Storm King sings as over the world, his cloak he flings." A pair of arms snaked around my waist, and I looked to my left to see Hiccup rest his head on my shoulder. "Sleep, sleep, little ones, sleep. He rustles his wings and gruffly sings. Sleep, little ones, sleep."

Thankfully, the twins were now sound asleep, completely still and content. I let out a sigh, glad I'd at least be able to get some sleep before they woke up in the middle of the night.

"Let's get some sleep," Hiccup muttered.

"Good idea."