Secret of a Dragon (An HTTYD Story)

Chapter Eighteen: Gone

I have been sitting here for longer than I've bothered to keep track. I brush my hands off on each other over the pile of dirt to my right before putting them back inside the hole I have been working on. I sweep away some dirt from the side, smoothing it out, and the particles drop to the bottom. I reach inside to pick them up; it is as deep as my arms are long. This will work well.

I finally stand up on my aching legs and stumble over to the lake. I shove my hands into the water forcefully, causing a drop to splash onto my face. As it slides down my cheek, it creates a trail through the dirt and tear stains, but I ignore it, scrubbing the caked soil from my skin and out from under my nails.

Looking at the water, an image flashes through my mind. It was the day that Hiccup first attached the prosthetic to my tail, and he and I were falling, after my Night Fury side became overexcited and launched us into the air. Twist shouted for Hiccup to open the tail since otherwise it was useless. While I know Hiccup didn't understand him through the language barrier, the message got through, and Hiccup and I were saved from a hard landing.

And before that, when Twist and I were play-fighting over the fish. In that moment, everything was okay, and it was back to how it had been, before we were found by the queen. Before our lives changed.

The surface of the water fractures, ripples. I realize I'm crying again. I don't care.

It didn't have to come to this.

Twist and I have been inseparable since before I can remember. While most of my childhood is an indistinguishable blur, he is a part of almost every memory I do have. He's been there whether I needed him or wanted him there. We've always kept each other safe, until he made a mistake that led to the queen sending her top dragons after us. Now he's paid the price.

I never told him, but I always held a slight grudge for that mistake.

I can never tell him I'm sorry.

I can never tell him I forgive him.

I close my eyes, trying to clear the tears, but it doesn't work. I manage to stand, and stumble over to the hole. It feels too final. I can't believe this is it. I can't believe this is our goodbye, until I join him in the other world. But how can I go through this world without him?

My gaze falls to the left, where his body lies. I cleaned the wound earlier, and now he's ready.

I can't do it.

He saved Hiccup from the Monstrous Nightmare. He saved me from myself. He was always with me, always my friend.

He deserves so much more.

I can't give it to him.

I fight to compose myself, but I know it's a losing battle. I somehow manage to cross over to his body and gently pick it up, then stagger back to the hole, but I collapse weakly to my knees.

Why is this happening?

Why me? Why him? Why now?

My vision clouds.

I lean forward and place him easily in the bottom of the grave. I take a handful of dirt from the pile I made while digging, dropping it slowly down on top of him.

A teardrop falls with the particles.

I place two shaking hands on one side of the pile and push. Slowly at first, then all at once, it collapses into the grave.

Standing again, I trek the entire cove and even venture outside briefly to find smooth stones worn by water or weather. I use these to make a ring around the border of the grave. Out in the forest again, I find a fallen piece of thick, young wood and use a sharper rock to carve in it Twist's name. This goes in the center of the circle, with two stones on either side.

Twist is gone.

But I will never forget him.