Left In The Night

Chapter 10

It was time to put Toothless and Blueheart's speed to the test.

All the riders gathered at a cliff not far from the village plaza, alongside the other dragons. Stormfly glanced over at Lightbolt and Killgrave, both of whom appeared to have all-knowing smirks on their faces.

What's with the grins?

Just excited to see the looks on your faces.

As the dragon's chit-chatted, Zyrah secured a special helmet made for her to withstand Blueheart's speed. She didn't wear it too often, as Blueheart rarely reached her top speed. She was pleasantly surprised to see Hiccup don a helmet as well, which she was told was for the same reason; to withstand Toothless's speed.

Fishlegs and Konall were at the ready. The count was to see who could fly around the entire island three times and arrive at the checkpoint first.

Out in the village, Eðla noticed the group up on the cliff and asked Alvar what was going on.

"Oh, they're about to test to see which Night Fury is the fastest." Eðla laughed.

"That should be interesting."

"They placed their bets, too."

"Of course they did."

Back on the cliff-

"Alright, Furies at the ready?" Fishlegs asked, receiving nods from both the dragons and their riders, "GO!" With the wave of Fishlegs' hand, they were gone in two black streaks into the sky.

Zyrah and Blueheart immediately performed a sharp barrel roll to the right from taking off. Toothless was a tad taken aback by how sharply she performed that maneuver. He also noticed how she adjusted her underwings and tail fins to allow for extra streamlining.

As for how Zyrah directed Blueheart, it was mostly similar to how Hiccup directed Toothless, taking away the fact that the girls didn't share a connected disability. Hiccup had always felt the way he adjusted his prosthetic was second nature, even when he had to ride other dragons.

For the first two rounds, Toothless was barely on Blueheart's tail, he tried minimizing the aerobatics so he reduced his chances of losing energy, but it didn't matter.

Suddenly, he saw Blueheart's fins shift again and she began to slow down.

"Wait, what is she doing?" He heard Hiccup rhetorically ask.

Then out of nowhere, Blueheart shot forward, faster than either of the boys could've anticipated. In a flash, she was virtually gone from sight.

"Holy shit-" Hiccup exclaimed.

Meanwhile, Blueheart was smirking at her victory, having known damn well females were faster than males. As the dragons made their way back to the checkpoint, the jaws of their friends were dropped, save for Konall and Rurik.

As they landed, Fishlegs was practically screeching with delight.

"Oh my, Thor oh my Thor oh my THOR- DID YOU SEE?! Did you see that burst? I've never seen a dragon fly that fast!" Zyrah laughed from atop Blueheart's saddle, removing her helmet.

"I told you guys you'd enjoy that!" The Berkians all shared the same stunned look. Ana's Star Chaser, a dragon not even Zyrah and her villagers had ever seen before, Dusk, seemed impressed. Blueheart tried her best to not give Toothless a smug look, but it was all for not. Toothless gave her a roll of his eyes, lightly waving his tail in front of her face.

Show off. That received a scoff in response from Blueheart and a laugh from Hookfang.

Oh, don't like being upstaged, Alpha? The Nightmare drawled out.

Shut it, Hookfang.

Males, you're all the same. Meatlug sighed.

While the riders were relishing in what they witnessed and exchanging notes and whatnot, Toothless felt that he had to talk to Blueheart more.

While Blueheart and Zyrah were very close as dragon and rider, Blueheart was still independent and was allowed to freely roam the village and the wilderness on Firewind. And after the race, Blueheart started to make her way toward the woods for some alone time, but only, Toothless decided to follow her.

And why are you following me?

To get to know you. And you can tell me more about our kind; since you did mention you would help me reconnect.

Blueheart's eyes widened just slightly now that she understood. She did promise him. What ought she say? What could she tell him?

Hm. Maybe there was a better way to ask, what had he forgotten?

'Kay, well... let's start with this. What don't you remember? What about our culture as a species have you lost? Toothless frowned, giving himself a moment to think. The way she phrased it, culture as a species. It made sense, even though so many dragon species lived together now, each species had a way of acting, certain mating rituals, the way they raised their hatchlings, and how things were taught.

How do we... how does a clan live together? How does a family raise their hatchlings? I remember so little of my early years. I can remember my parent's faces, but only vaguely. Same with my sisters.

Hmm... well. Our habits have changed over time due to hunters killing us. Our species used to be migratory, flying with the other dragons south to lay eggs and hatch our babies. But once we started becoming the hunted, we stopped migrating, sticking to certain islands with little to no human traffic, for safety. We rely on a colony leader.

Really?

Yep, the colony leader is usually a patriarch and their family. Colonies are a collection of families living together. We raise hatchlings as a community, and we're extremely protective during the mating season. It gets a little crazy. She couldn't help but chuckle at the nonsense of males.

Are there multiple colonies?

No, sadly not. At least not that I'm aware of. If there are, they've kept themselves a damn good secret from the rest of us.

Hm. Uh, so what's your family like?

Funny you should ask. My father is the colony leader.

There was a pause as Toothless processed what she just said. That had to be equivalent to an Alpha, like him.

Is the colony leader like an Alpha?

Uh... I never really thought about it. I suppose? But only for Night Furies. Our species hasn't answered the call of an Alpha leading multiple species of dragons together in some time.

Oh.

I mean, that's not to say it was never a thing. Just probably long before humans came into the picture.

That does make sense.

But anyway, to continue answering that other question. Yeah, my father is the colony leader. I'm the oldest of my siblings. I have one younger brother and two younger sisters. Though it's likely I have more now since I left.

Which brings me to ask... why'd you leave? You were around your family and your clan.

Well... I was young and stubborn, and wanting to do things my way, I left. I wanted to see the world beyond our island. And Firewind was basically the next island over, I landed here, and have lived here ever since.

Together the pair wandered further into the forest, where Blueheart showed Toothless around, even revealing a cave where she would sometime's stay when she needed time to herself.

I can't deny it, I do miss my home. But... I feel the need to stay here. Stay for Zyrah.

I feel the same about Hiccup. He once gave me a special tail to allow me to fly on my own, but I broke it because I love flying with him over flying alone.

Blueheart huffed with a smile.

The sacrifices we make for our riders.