The early morning sun rose up once again on Berk, with the sun rays brighter than ever. Its rays shone through the open cage in the training ground, where Hilda and the Night Fury were. The light hit Hilda's closed eyes, causing her to flinch and wake up. She placed her hand up over her eyes to block the sun, but to no prevail, forcing her to get up.
"Yeah, morning to you too." she mumbled. She yawned, stretching her arms and legs, thinking she felt a click from it, but didn't dwell on it. She then sat up, leaning up against the wall of the cage.
"Man, that was surprisingly a rough sleep." she said, rubbing the back of her neck.
"I can imagine, sleeping on the floor." Hilda got startled by a voice. A familiar voice. She was like a statue, not moving a muscle like there was a bad presence. She then slowly turned her eyes, moving them up before turning her head to see the site of her sister, Linda. She had her arms crossed, with an expression that was almost amused.
"Oh, hey, Linda." Hilda said with an innocent smile. She then unconvincingly looked around her surroundings. "Whoa! How... did I end up here?" she lied. "Must have... sleepwalked my way here and somehow..."
"Yeah, you're not fooling me." Linda immediately said, almost cringing at her older sister's attempt of lying her way out of the situation.
Hilda sighed before proceeding to get up. Linda extended her arm, which Hilda gladly took to help her up.
"You really thought you could lie to me? Me? The person who's known to lie." Linda exclaimed.
Hilda shrugged her shoulders. "Hey, it was worth a shot." She then sighed. "Listen, I can explain this."
"Oh, I'm the least of your worries." Linda chuckled before making her way and opening the cage doors. Hilda winched as she was still getting used to the morning light. Once her eyes adjusted, she was met with an unwelcoming site - Alric, Martha, Sterling and even Hiccup were at the training ground.
"Look who I found!" Linda proclaimed as she stepped aside to introduce Hilda, who stood there, looking pretty guilty. All she did was give an innocent wave. "Morning, guys." she simply said with a guilty smile. Hilda wasn't really good in hiding her mischief, completely different from her sister.
"Where's the Night Fury?" Hiccup immediately asked, looking not so pleased.
"It's still in there." Linda answered, pointing behind her. "Not really fond of us." Hilda turned herself to see the site of its green eyes peering through the darkness at the end of the cage. It almost startled her, but she instead became fascinated by the site.
"Right, Sterling, you know what to do." Once Hilda heard Hiccup say this, she quickly turned back around and began walking up to him.
"Hiccup, I need to talk to you."
"There's nothing to talk about." Hiccup sternly said, making his way out of the training grounds.
"Please, Hiccup! At least, let me try to convince you. Convince all of you!" she pleaded. Hiccup stood still, before eventually turning around.
"You know what? I can be fair." Hiccup mentioned.
"Can you?" Martha joked.
Hiccup gave an eye at her, who was standing next to him before continuing. "Like I said, I'm a fair person. So, I'll get you a chance to try and convince at least one of us. The big goal is convincing me." he explained.
"OK. Sounds good. I'll take it." Hilda closed her eyes and took one deep breath in and out. "This is it, Hilda. You got one shot at this. Make it count."
She opened her eyes again and spoke. "OK, if yesterday proved anything, is that I'm not in the right position to train a dragon."
"Not the best start to an argument." Linda joked to Alric, who almost seemed to agree.
"However," she continued, "yesterday also proved that I am as determined as ever to train one. And not just me. All of you do." She pointed at everyone. She then took a few steps towards Sterling as she spoke again.
"Sterling, remember when Linda was 7, 8 years old and I would come to pick her after dragon training?" Sterling nodded. "Well, that was around the time I left dragon training. Every time I came over, you would always say, 'it would be nice if you came back, lassie.'"
Sterling chuckled. "Well, you had that potential back then."
"And I know I still do." Hilda then faced Alric. "Alric, remember we had that argument two days ago? You didn't want me to keep my promise."
"Because I didn't want you to live your life without at least riding a dragon." Alric explained.
"Now not only I can ride one, I can train one AND still keep my promise."
She faced Linda. "Linda, when we would have dinner in the evening, you, Mum and Dad would always try not to mention much about your dragons, afraid that I would feel pressured or ashamed."
"And Dad would try to be cryptic about you getting one." Linda mentioned.
"Exactly! That's why he was so happy when I said I wanted one."
She faced Martha. "Martha, you would always tell me what you learnt in dragon training, even asking me if I wanted to ride on Sapphire sometimes."
"I didn't want you to feel left out." Martha admitted.
"I know." Hilda smiled. She faced Hiccup. "And Hiccup, I sometimes see you talking to my parents, asking them if I have ever considered flying or training a dragon. I see the people of Berk coming to you, expressing their concern about me. And most importantly, remember when you talked to me when I was 12? You said that you knew how I felt 'cause you felt the exact same way. But you didn't want me to be left on the ground while everyone else was up in the air."
Hiccup sighed, and then gave a small smile. "I did say that."
Hilda smiled back before continuing. "All of you want the best for me. I know you do. You all begged me to not live a life without a dragon. I get that. Well, this is my chance. And, even though I'm far behind all of you, if you all help me, I know I can do it. I know I can train it."
There was silence. It wasn't the bad kind of silence, but the kind that left people in shock, thinking about what was said.
"Uh, guys?" Alric said worryingly, finally breaking the silence. They all turned to see what he saw and were all met with an amazing site.
The Night Fury was out of its cage, since the door was left open. However, it didn't look ready to attack. It didn't look caution at anyone. But, it wasn't looking at everyone - it was only looking at Hilda. It then began to walk up to her, looking at no one else, but her. Soon, it was face to face with her, staring right at her. It wasn't scared. Hilda wasn't scared. She smiled. It curiously tilled its head.
Everyone felt like they were holding their breath. Seeing a moment like this - looking into the eyes of a wild dragon - seemed unreal. But it was there, right in front of their eyes.
Hilda then drew her attention towards the scar that ran across the Night Fury's left eye. She reached out her hand, but was barely able to touch it before the Night Fury backed up. It didn't growl at her, but it defiantly looked anxious at her.
"It doesn't fully trust you." Hiccup explained. "But... there's certainly some trust there." He then took a deep breath, absorbing what had just happened. "Sterling, no one knows about the Night Fury except us, correct?" he asked.
"Not even the dragons themselves." Sterling proclaimed.
"Alright, then. Martha, Linda, Alric? You guys still remember how to train dragons?"
"Not in the way Sterling does it, but we can certainly try." Martha answered.
"Good enough for me. And Hilda?"
"Yes?" Her eyes were wide, with a big smile slowly but surely appearing on her face.
Hiccup smiled. "Just want you to know that... the Night Fury is a female." A big smile was now on her face as she faced the Night Fury again.
"OK. This is what is going to happen. You four are going to take the Night Fury to the forest and help Hilda. Make sure no one, and I mean no one knows about this until I'm ready to announce it to everyone. " He then faced Hilda. "I'll check up on you in about 2 weeks. Good luck." He smiled and with that, he left the training ground.
"Yes!! I'm going to train a Night Fury!!" Hilda cheered, jumping and hugging her friends in excitement, even grabbing Linda by her arms and spinning around together.
Sterling chuckled as he too left the training ground, catching up to Hiccup.
"Hey, Hiccup? I'm not saying you made the wrong decision. But do you think she has what it takes?" Sterling asked.
Hiccup nodded. "She may have missed a lot of dragon training and doesn't know the first step to it. But she does have one thing - determination. And she'll need that to train that dragon."
"But still! A Night Fury!" Sterling whispered, noticing Viking were starting to wake up and begin their day. "That's unbelievable!"
"Yeah, it sure is."
"You're alright?" Sterling asked, noticing Hiccup wasn't smiling as much any more.
"Yeah, sure. Come on, we got a busy day ahead of us."
"As always." Sterling remarked.