A Gronckle hovered above the ring, hunting victims as the teen recruits scramble. All of Berk looked completely different. Or at least, the ring did. I had normally been one of the only ones sitting in the stands. Now, almost the whole village joined me. It had been easy to sneak in. Staying off radar on the other hand, was much more of a challenge.
Astrid seemed to be doing the best, jumping behind the barriers, her ax held close. She darted off, closing in fast on the Gronkel. The crowd above cheered her on. All except me, that is.
"You got it Astrid!"
I felt my stomach turn as I saw Hiccup stand and look around. Amidst the crowd of onlookers, the chief watches keenly, beaming with pride. He locks eyes with Hiccup, giving him a nod of encouragement. Hiccup adjusts his helmet and forces a half-hearted smile. I closed my eyes tightly and clenched my fists as, unbeknownst to Hiccup, the Gronckle spots him and makes a bee-line toward him.
Suddenly, the crowd went silent, and I couldn't bear to open my eyes. Finally, after a moment, I did, only to see that Hiccup had laid the Gronckle out, most-likely using the weak-spot trick. I felt joy for only a moment, before realizing what this would mean for Hiccup.
"No!" Astrid yelled in frustration. "No! Son of a half-troll rat eating-"
I grimaced at her screams of annoyance, before spotting Hiccup, looking just as upset as she was. A loud clack rung out. From the crowd above, the village elder stepped forward, tapping her staff. Everyone lit up excitedly, waiting for her decision.
"Wait! Wait!" the chief held his hands out to silence the crowd. I shrunk down as I watched Gobber snag Hiccup as he attempted to leave. "Okay, quiet down. The elder has decided."
Thrilled, Gobber stood behind Hiccup and Astrid. My eyes met Hiccup's, only to see pure panic. Gobber pointed down to Astrid as the crowd waited in silent anticipation. The elder shakes her head 'no.' I closed my eyes, listening to the crowd 'Oooohs.' Gobber then pointed to Hiccup, though the answer was already clear. The elder nods an affirmative 'yes' causing the crowd to erupt in cheers. Astrid turns a seething, deadly glare on Hiccup.
"You've done it! You've done it," Gobber cheered "Hiccup! You get to kill the dragon!"
Unable to stay any longer, due to the cheering and excited crowd, I was pushed towards the stairs, and with as little as attention drawn to myself as I could manage, I snuck out of the village of Berk.
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I ran as fast as I could to the cove pushing past branches and sliding down slopes. I balanced my way across a fallen tree, before climbing up the rest of my way and ducking under Hiccup's abandoned shield. The moment I took a second to look around the cove, I saw Toothless, wrestling with small terrible terror. Breathing heavily, I fell to the ground, resting my head in my hands. This was a mess. I had no idea what Hiccup's plan was, but I was going to be there for him through it.
Just as I opened my eyes, I heard a voice, causing me to snap my head to Hiccup, who was making his way around a large boulder, a basket perched on his back.
"We're leaving!" My head shot up, spotting Hiccup's figure. "Let's pack up. Looks like you and I are taking a little vacation... forever." Hiccup set down his basket and opened it up, his head seeming so clouded with thoughts that he didn't even notice I was right behind him. "We gotta leave before Jenny–"
"Before I what?" I asked, glaring. Hiccup whipped around just as I slid off the rock and back him up slightly. His eyes darted around nervously, searching for Toothless.
"Before you what? I uh.." I walked forward until his back was against another large boulder, my cheeks turning as red as my hair in fury.
"Leaving without saying goodbye now, huh?" I asked, then turned away as I clenched my fists. "Just as I started to think we were–" I stopped myself, refusing to say 'Friends', then shook my head. "Just...never mind."
"I know this looks really bad, but–" He stuttered, stumbling over his words. "You see...this is, uh..." he paused and closed his eyes tightly, shaking his head. "I...I don't know. They're going to make me kill a dragon, and I- I can't do it."
"So you're leaving?" I asked, shaking my own head, my anger returning. "You could have at least said goodbye." I turned on my heel and made my way over to the exit on the other side of the cove.
"Wait, Jenny no!" Hiccup stumbled towards me, adjusting his harness as he attempted to stop me. "I'm sorry, okay, I just have to leave! You've gotta understand!"
I stopped dead in my tracks, before turning to face him. "I do understand, Hiccup. That's why it doesn't make sense that you would leave without telling me."
Hiccup paused. Neither of us said anything for a while. We seemed to be locked in some sort of staring contest that made it impossible for us to look away. Eventually, I sighed, shaking my head and turning away again. Hiccup said nothing to stop me, until I had almost made it to the end of the cove.
"Wait!"
"No." I stopped momentarily, refusing to turn and look at him. "I'm not listening to another word." I whipped around, charging forward with intense anger welling through me as I pulled my ax from my back. "Not another complaint, another idea, another explanation, another excuse." I backed him up against a large rock, pressing my ax to his neck. "I don't want to hear it."
"I know you're mad..." he breathed, swallowing hard. "And you have every right to be. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry."
"Did you not hear what I just said?" I asked fiercely, tears welling up in my eyes. "I don't want your apologies. I. never. Want. to see. You. again."
I released him from my ax and turned to make my leave, when once again, I heard his voice behind me.
"Then I won't speak." I stopped, my head hanging slightly. "Just...oh gods." I waited for him to continue for a while, but he said nothing. The tears that had threatened to fall were wiped away, and only a few seconds later, Hiccup was right behind me. "Just please...give me one last chance."
I turned just slightly, enough to see Hiccup's pleading eyes, and Toothless's curious ones. Groaning, knowing I'd regret it, I turned, and reluctantly made my way over to Toothless, feeling Hiccup presence right behind me. I waited for him to climb on first, then I climbed on behind him. As he promised, Hiccup said nothing. He just rested his hand on Toothless's neck, and he shot up into the air easily, careful to steady both riders.
Toothless rose into the sky, perfect silence filling the cool tones of the air. With the sun going down slowly, the clouds lit ablaze in golden hues, settling over a vast, alien sky-scape. The beautiful scene caused me to grin, despite myself. Toothless rose above a blanket of clouds, leveling off under a now starry sky. We emerged from a blanket of clouds under the dancing Northern Lights, shimmering in ribbons across the vast sky. Below us, Berk's torches flicker in the inky darkness. The perspective is breathtaking.
Finally allowing myself to trust again, I tucked my arms into Hiccup's vest, burying my chin into his shoulder and I didn't miss Hiccup's nervous smile. Toothless climbed past Berk's tallest peaks and went out over open water, leaving the village lights behind them.
"Alright" I sighed, looking down at Toothless. "I forgive you. But just know," I narrowed my eyes on Hiccup, causing him to shrink back. "If you ever try to leave without telling me first, it will be the last thing you do."
He chuckled a bit, clearing his throat. "Note to self, don't make Jenny mad."
I laughed a bit, lightly punching him the shoulder, before my expression grew more serious. "So what now...?" Hiccup groaned in answer. "Hiccup, your final exam is tomorrow. You know they'll make you kill..." I paused, and leaned in, lowering my voice. "kill a dragon..."
"Don't remind me." he sighed. Toothless' ear plates suddenly stood on end. Seeming panicked, he abruptly dove, dipping into cloud cover. "Toothless! What's happening? What is it?"
Toothless darted through tee fog, his mind set on finding something through the heavy, wet clouds. From the surrounding distance, a cacophony of familiar roars sounded in the distance. Suddenly, out of the dense cloud, a Monstrous Nightmare emerged.
"Get down!" I pushed Hiccup down, flat against Toothless, hopefully as to not attract any unneeded attention to ourselves. The Nightmare called out, while a Zippleback appeared to the other side of Toothless, boxing him in.
"Where do you think they're going?" I asked in a whisper.
"I was hoping that you'd know..." I scanned over the dragons, eventually noticing something that made my skin crawl.
"Looks like they're hauling in their kill." I said. Every single one of them had some sort of livestock, vegetable, or other food in their claws.
Before Hiccup had the chance to answer me, the dragons took a sharp dive in formation, plummeting through the thickening fog and weaving between towering, craggy sea stacks. I squinted my eyes as we flew through a cloud of fog, before emerging at the base of a massive volcanic caldera, glowing with rivulets of lava. The flock of dragons fell into rank, funneling through a crack, and zipping through a winding tunnel. It gave way to a vast, steamy inner chamber, tiered with pocky shelves. Dragons of all breeds lay about, nested in hordes. The arriving dragons and us flew in, dropping the fish and game into a central pit, glowing red and shrouded in mist.
"What my dad wouldn't give to find this."
I heard Hiccup, but I wasn't exactly listening. Toothless peeled away from the procession, landing on a small shadowy shelf thankfully keeping us at a low-profile. Hiccup and I leaned over, peeking around, taking in the busy hive of sorts. We watched as the food continued to be dropped into the pit by various dragons.
"It's satisfying to know that all of our food has been dumped down a hole." Hiccup deadpanned.
"Not all of it..." I muttered, thinking of the food I stole.
Last to arrive was a Gronckle, seeming to be all over the place. It hovered over the pit and regurgitates his paltry contribution– a pathetic little fish. As it fell into the steamy pit, a terrible roar rung out. The Gronckle tried to flee, but before it could, a gargantuan dragon head juts from the steamy pit and snapped it out of the air, swallowing it back whole. I recoiled, a terrified feeling eating at my stomach.
"What is that?" The monstrous beast sniffed the air, finally becoming aware of the three of us. It neared the ledge where we hid... and roared, causing several dragons to take flight in fear.
"Alright buddy, we gotta get out of here. Now!"
Toothless took flight, barely evading the monster's snapping jaws. The behemoth dragon lunged for us, snatching a Zippleback out of the air instead. Toothless disappeared into the winged exodus as thousands of dragons fleed the caldera in fear.
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"No, no, it totally makes sense. It's like a giant beehive. They're the workers... and that's their queen."
The entire flight back, Hiccup and I couldn't talk about anything but what we'd just seen.It was absolutely fascinating to me, learning that the dragons all bowed down to another dragon. It made sense that they'd have some sort of leader, but it appeared to be through fear that they obeyed.
"It controls them." I concluded, jumping off Toothless as soon as we touched down. I paused, my brows furrowing as a suspicious look crossed my eyes. "You wouldn't...tell your dad about this... right?"
"No, no!" Hiccup quickly shook his head. "They'll... kill Toothless." I sighed in relief, glad to know that he had his head on straight. "We have to think this through carefully."
"Agreed." I said, shaking my head. "what do we do now then?"
"Just give me until tomorrow," he pleaded. "I'll figure something out." nothing was said for a while after that. I wasn't sure if there was much else to say. That was until, "And, Jenny?"
My eyes fell on Hiccup again, and I shifted my weight to my other hip. "Yes?"
"Promise me..." He paused, looking down at his feet, then returning his eyes back up at me. "Promise me you won't come to the arena tomorrow."
My brows furrowed. "Hiccup-"
"Jenny, please." he begged, not even giving me the chance to argue. "The whole village will be there. It's too dangerous for you to be there."
I frowned, knowing there was no way to win this one. "Okay." I sighed.
"And..." he looked at his dragon, then back at me again. "And promise me one more thing...Promise me... that if something goes wrong...you'll look after Toothless...Keep him safe?"
"I promise..." I muttered, my stomach lurching at the possibility. "Just, promise me nothing will go wrong." Hiccup said nothing, just averted his eyes. Having one last thing that I needed to take care of, I reached over and socked Hiccup in the arm, causing him to flinch back.
"That's for trying to leave without telling me." Hiccup looked over to Toothless for support. Toothless seemed to shrug, dismissive. I then grabbed him by the shoulder, causing him to brace for another hit, before I kissed his cheek
"That's for... everything else." In the awkward wake of the moment, I hurried off in search for Spark... leaving Hiccup rubbing his cheek, stunned.