Secret of a Dragon (An HTTYD Story)

Chapter Seventeen: Hiccup's Reflection

I'M BACK FINALLY!!!

I know that it's a short chapter, but I figure a short chapter is better than no chapter. The results of the Hiccstrid vs. Hiccup/Crystal is at the end :)

Enjoy!

Hiccup doesn't know if he actually understands what happened in the forest.

What he knows, is that Crystal was there. There was a Monstrous Nightmare. The Terrible Terror who hung around Toothless and him was there. Crystal knew it, too. It was killed. And then Toothless was there, and she killed the Monstrous Nightmare.

But where did she come from?

Crystal disappeared when Toothless appeared.

Where did she go?

Of course he knows the answer. But he can't admit it to himself. He can't say, Crystal turned into Toothless, and accept that it was real.

He rolls over in his bed and clenches his eyes shut. He's being stupid. That can't have happened.

But it did, says a nagging voice in his head.

It is right. The proof is replaying itself over and over in his mind. Crystal stands; the Terror falls; she launches herself forward, and that's when she begins to change.

It was horrific. Her skin broke out in blotches of black scales, growing down her arms and legs. Her arms and legs turned the same size, her hands shifted into paws, her fingers changed into claws. Spines broke out along her back, her hair disappeared, her clothes ripped off only to vanish on the way to the ground. At this moment Hiccup shut his eyes, but he knows what must have happened.

When he looked, a tail was swishing tensely before him. It was missing its left tail wing.

He can't accept it, he can't deny it. He wants to talk to Crystal, to demand the truth, but he doesn't think he can face her. Not after what happened.

The questions! How long was she keeping it, how long did she know? She must have known, she could speak to the dragons, but how long, how long? Since she fell from the forest? Since she came to Berk? Her whole life? How did it happen, what must she have gone through? Perhaps she grew up with it and learned to adapt, perhaps this happened recently and the change shocked her out of the forest?

He opens his eyes and stares blankly at the wall. He supposes that more than the questions circulating his head, what was plaguing him was why? Why her? Why him? Why Toothless? Why Berk? Why could she change? Why did he shoot her down? Why did the Terror die for her, for him? Why did the Nightmare hate them? Why? Why?

He suddenly remembers something, something thrust to the back of his mind by the events of the night, with Astrid, the dragon's lair, Crystal. Tomorrow he must kill a dragon, in front of the entire village. Not just any dragon, but a Monstrous Nightmare. He would never be able to do it. He wouldn't do it not only because of what he had learned, but the nauseating memories of the Monstrous Nightmare from that night would take him over and drive him away. What could he do? His father would be there, he couldn't let his father down, he couldn't embarrass himself and the entire village, but he wouldn't be able to avoid it.

And Crystal would be there. He is going to have to face her. 

Hiccup suddenly just feels overwhelmingly tired. The day was long and chaotic, and now that he is lying stationary, his body is feeling the exhaustion, even while his mind writhes with his thoughts.

Tomorrow, he thinks. He closes his eyes, and a moment later drops into an abyssal sleep.

I DID IT!!! YAY ME!!

Anyway, I counted it all up, and here are the results for Hiccstrid vs. Hiccup/Crystal: 

(Note: I went through two chapters to count the votes and didn't keep track of usernames, so if you voted on both chapters, let me know and I'll take one vote from the count. Thanks!)

Hiccup/Crystal:   10

Hiccstrid:                4

I'm honestly really surprised with how well the reception was for Hiccup/Crystal (or, as everyone's calling it, Hiccstal). I was expecting wayyyyyy more for Hiccstrid than just four, so that's kinda overwhelming!

Thank you to everyone who voted, there were a lot of votes!

See you guys next time, which... will maybe be soon. Let's see!!

Bye!!

EDIT: I KNOW WHAT I'M GONNA DO AND YOU GUYS ARE PROBABLY GONNA BE DISAPPOINTED BUT I'M A CRUEL AUTHOR WHOOPS SORRY