The Great Beyond

Chapter 57: A Matter of Perspective (Hiccup)

I'm sorry, I was under the impression the Eruptadon was a she?! Because she laid an egg! Why does Hiccup say 'he' in this episode?!?!

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The two gears in each of my hands taunted me, neither obviously demonstrating they'd work in the spot I'd been focused on for the last twenty minutes. When I'd started out on this project for the day, things had been running smoothly. I had no design, or truly earthly idea, what I was even doing, but somehow, things just managed to show themselves and make sense as I went along. Normally, I would've turned to Reign and asked for her help, but I wanted to work on this without the others knowing, just in case I couldn't make it work; not to mention, they'd probably try to persuade me not to go through with it. But, lately, I'd been seriously considering showing her what I was doing and asking for her help.

"Come on!" I cried out in frustration as I threw down the gears. "Think, Hiccup, think." My eyes moved to my current design, but with what I'd just tried out, it would be useless. Annoyed, I crumpled it up and threw it behind me. I could hear Toothless jump up and start to trot around, likely playing with the scrap, but I didn't have time to focus on that. "What am I missing? I..."

A knock on the door startled me out of my state, causing me to jump up. Panicking, I grabbed onto a cloth with shaking hands.

"Just a minute!" I called back, ensuring the parts were completely covered before making my way to the door and opening it. Astrid stood there, a scroll in one hand, but her eyes quickly moved past me when she noticed the cloth. "Hey!"

"Hey." She raised an eyebrow, her gaze burning holes through me. "Whatcha up to?"

"Oh, you know, nothing much." I tried my best to move in sync with her as she tried to get a better look at what was behind me. "Just, uh..."

"Working on that secret project?" There was a taunting note in her voice as she smirked.

"It's not a secret, Astrid," I lied, trying to get her to lose interest.

"Okay. So, uh, then tell me what it is." As usual, she wasn't backing down, leaving me floundering in a corner I'd never be able to leave—something both she and Reign were good at.

"Yeah. Secret." Thankfully, she backed off a bit. "Don't worry. You can tell us when you're ready. In the meantime, from Mala." She passed the scroll she'd been holding to me. Curious, I unrolled it right there and read over it, my heart sinking as the message was conveyed. We had to leave for the island soon. "Where's Reign?" I inquired, just now realizing that the two of them had set off to do their tasks together, but hadn't both returned.

"She's finishing up at the storehouse," Astrid assured me, jutting her thumb over her back to point at the structure. "There are a couple extra yak chops missing, and she was pretty confident in who took them. Hopefully she's close to done by this point."

"Good. Gather up the other Riders and tell them we have to leave for Defenders of the Wing Island immediately. Mala's invited us to help them send off the old Great Protector."

A sad look crossed Astrid's face, but she obliged and headed off the gather up the other Riders. I was in the middle of securing Toothless' saddle when the door opened, revealing Reign and Shriek all ready to go. She offered me a tiny smile, but it wavered and twitched as she fought to keep it there, prompting me to make my way over to her. She'd been pretty quiet as of late, but her facial expressions gave everything away. The wounds were beginning to heal, just the tiniest bit, but that didn't mean it was going to be smooth sailing and easy going from here on out. There were still nights where one or both of us couldn't sleep, and last night had been one of the latter.