Fly On Your Own

Chapter 10

"What if his tail broke?"

My laughter dissipated as the cracks in Hiccup's armor started to show. He could distract himself for bits at a time, but his mind was racing, worrying about why Toothless hadn't come back yet. Part of me couldn't blame him, but I knew, somewhere within me, that him not coming back had always been a possibility.

"What if Grimmel found him? What if he needs me?"

"Would you relax?" Gobber certainly didn't take the approach I would've. "He's probably having the time of his life."

"How would I know? She never comes around, and when she does, she's always rushing off. I'm saying how... how do we know if she's right for us." My chest dropped the more Hiccup spoke, drawing similarities between the Light Fury's situation and mine. We both came from somewhere else, introduced to Berk almost on some chance, a bit wild and untamed.

"Us?" I raised an eyebrow at Hiccup.

"You know what I mean. She's so wild and skittish." One glance at me, and he seemed to understand. "You're different. You trusted us from the start."

"What difference does that make?" I snapped. "You can't act like she's going to be dangerous just because she's not from here. That's shallow, Hiccup."

Unfortunately, he completely ignored me.

"I'm just gonna say it: I don't trust her." Gobber laughed out loud, but it was a bitter, almost sarcastic laugh.

"You can't tame 'em all, Hiccup," he reasoned. "One day, you'll have to snip those apron strings, and let Toothless go. Reminds me of a talk I had with Stoick about you. Gah! Where do they keep coming from?"

Hiccup and I quickly whipped around, trying to follow Gobber's line of sight to what scared him. My eyes darted around, searching for the possible source of his fright, but spotted nothing.

"Who?"

"Those bloody Hobgobblers! I swear they're popping up faster than rabbits. I think they want to eat me. Evidence would suffice I'm tasty." He pointed toward an empty patch of grass. Hiccup and I looked at each other, shrugging before silently blaming it on too much to drink.

Out of nowhere, Tuffnut emerged from the bushes and pushed Hiccup away from me, absolutely no regard for the fact he and I had been walking together. I placed my hands on my hips and shook my head, following as he pushed him along and loudly insulted him.

"Hiccy, a moment?" I mouthed the nickname Tuff had given Hiccup, wildly confused. That... so did not sound right. "Listen, I've been watching you walk. Lost the limp. No one's gonna want more of that." My mouth fell open slightly. Was he seriously trying to tell Hiccup why I wouldn't have another kid with him?

"I have a prosthetic leg!" Hiccup argued, pointing to the metal appendage.

"So have I." I rolled my eyes. It was almost as though they'd forgotten I was here.

"And I have a parasitic twin, but you don't see me limping around about it. Come on. Chin up, Hiccy. Puff out that chest. Move that butt to the left a little bit." I let out a burst of laughter, then clapped a hand over my mouth as Hiccup turned his head back. He playfully glared at me, shaking his head.

Hiccup managed to get Tuff away from him, and I moved a little faster to catch up with him. He could already tell I was about to mess with him as I placed a hand on his lower back.

"Hon, not a word," he cautioned. I smirked at him, biting my lip to contain laughter.

"I would never, babe. That would be completely unwarranted and inappropriate." As I said that, I moved my hand lower, causing him to jump and grab my wrist. He tried to look stern, but his laughter broke through his tough persona, as did the intense red of his cheeks.

"Hey!" he laughed, moving his fingers up to lace through mine.

The playful moment ended, however, when Valka and Cloudjumper landed in the middle of the festivities. She jumped off, searching around frantically for Hiccup and I. We quickly raced to her side, trying to support her.

"Mom, are you hurt?"

"What happened out there?" She removed her helmet and looked at us with such intense fear, a shiver traveled down my spine.

"I don't know how, but Grimmel is tracking us."

"Ah! This is all because of the Hobgobblers." I turned my head and glared at Gobber.

"He has one hundred ships, maybe more," she informed us frantically. "With enough cages for all of our dragons." My heart stopped for a moment. He had an armada... how could we not have assumed that?

Hiccup sharply exhaled, his eyes bouncing around as he processed the information. He seemed to come to a conclusion, but the look on his face alarmed me. It was moments like this when I wished I didn't know him this well.

"If Grimmel is leading them here, we have to take him out of the mix."

"Uh, and how would we do that?" I shook my head. Tuff had lost quite a bit of the little respect I'd had for him.

"By going there to capture him."

"Capture him?" A momentary silence settled over the group. "I'm with him! Who else?" Tuff's abrupt shout made me jump slightly.

I rested my forehead against the pads of my fingers, shaking my head. I wanted to argue with Hiccup, I wanted to tell him he was crazy, but I knew there was no changing his mind. My option was to go along with it and stay by him, even if he offered me another one. I'd made a promise to be by his side and defend him three years ago, and I wasn't about to break that over one battle.

"Eret!" He popped his head up, turning his attention to me.

"Do you need me to watch the girls?" I shook my head.

"You're coming with us. Gobber, if you could keep an eye on them while we're gone, that'd be great." He nodded. Hiccup placed a hand on my shoulder, looking down at me curiously. I nodded, offering him a supportive smile.

"Everyone, get your armor on, meet back here in five. We'll form a plan of attack, but we can't waste much more time."

Everyone nodded, then rushed off to follow Hiccup's orders. We moved quietly into our tent, trying our best not to wake Alith and Kerrigan as we quickly changed, not caring about the suspicious scene our scattered articles of clothing made as we pulled on the uncomfortable armor. I secured my shield on my back and reached for my helmet. I was just about to pull it on, when my eyes fell on the crib. I hesitated, feeling a nervous pang in my chest.

"Reign?"

My eyes fluttered up to meet Hiccup's as he placed his hands on my shoulders.

"Is everything all right, baby?" I darted my eyes over to the wooden structure again, before I looked at him with desperation.

"Promise me you'll be careful," I spat out. He seemed taken aback at first, but eventually eased into a softer expression.

"We both will be fine, Reign. We'll try our best with Grimmel, but if things get too dangerous, I promise we'll get out of there, okay?"

I swallowed nervously, but muttered an agreement. I managed to sneak one last glance at my daughters before slipping my helmet on and following Hiccup to the others.