Found again (HTTYD FF)

★38★

Hiccup left Astrid standing on the cliff. He could feel her piercing gaze on his back.

He didn't dare look back.

His heart was still racing.

What had he done? What had he done?

It was true that the unwanted transformation had helped him a little to chase the dragon away without too much of a fight, but on the other hand, he had exposed himself. Now he would have to stay alert and watch Astrid's every move carefully. What if she tells someone? What will happen then?

She wasn't supposed to find out. She was never supposed to know.

Stormfly should help with keeping his secret - surely she can stop Astrid from doing stupid things if worst comes to worst.

He sort of hoped Astrid would label tonight as some sort of dream or hallucination and eventually forget about it - but it was Astrid. It was clear to him that she was going to keep digging until she got all the answers she wanted. It's only a matter of time before she comes to Hiccup and starts demanding them. She won't let it go.

And Hiccup had to figure out how to convince her to keep her mouth shut. It would be easy if she were a dragon. The Bewilderbeast would have simply ordered her to do it and she would have had no choice but to obey. In this case, though, he wouldn't even need her to keep quiet - no human would understand.

On the other hand, he wanted Astrid to know. He didn't like keeping secrets. It seemed wrong to him to lie to someone about something like this. Lying about the fish he'd taken from under Toothless' snout? No problem. Lying about his whole nature, lying to Astrid? It didn't feel right, he didn't want to do it, even though he didn't have much of a choice in the matter. He couldn't say something like that to anyone - he trusted Astrid, but not enough yet to trust her with his own life without any hesitation. He wasn't ready to do something like that, it was too soon. He hadn't overcome his fear of people yet, and he wouldn't for a long time.

He shook off all unwanted thoughts with one big shake (even if it wasn't the best in the middle of flying) and continued on his way to Toothless. He needed something to distract himself for a while, and helping Toothless settle in the new dragons seemed like the best idea.

And someone had to report the successful mission to the Bewilderbeast, even though it had probably already reached him. He always managed to find out just moments before Hiccup or Toothless got to him. How he did it had been a mystery to them.

By the time he had found Toothless, the new dragons had already received a brief description of the nest and the system that worked within it from him, and once they had all calmed down and started to look around curiously, he would just take them on a quick tour so they could explore the nest themselves later. By the time Hiccup joined them, therefore, no further work was needed. All he had to do was make the King aware of their situation and send the healer dragons to them, just in case, before they scatter in all directions.

In a few minutes they had a brief conversation with the white giant over. It was time to check on the Viking visitors and make sure Astrid hadn't told them anything about tonight.

Hiccup automatically expected everyone to be awake - the sun had long since risen on the horizon and the nest was beginning to come alive again. But when he and Toothless reached the spot, Snotlout was asleep, leaning against Hookfang, his head thrown back, and a loud snore coming from his throat. The twins weren't much better off, both siblings laid in strange positions that didn't look comfortable at all, but who knew?

Hiccup paused in surprise. Was it normal for them to sleep for so long? Were they sick? Fortunately, Fishlegs was on his feet and examining one of the ice walls, Meatlug only half a step behind him.

"Are they okay?" he asked.

"Ah!" Fishlegs squeaked in a voice so high that Hiccup almost couldn't resist the urge to cover his ears. He wasn't sure if it really came out of him. "H-Hiccup! You scared the hell out of me! Since you're here, I need to ask you something. Is this ice?" He pointed his finger at the greenish wall created by the Bewilderbeast's breath. Hiccup nodded. "Then how come it's not cold...?"

"Why concern yourself with such irrelevant information? It's ice and it's not cold, it doesn't matter why! At least it doesn't make my paws freeze!" Toothless replied instead of Hiccup.

Hiccup shot an uncertain glance towards the sleeping Vikings.

"Yeah, sorry, what did you ask?"

"is it normal for them to sleep so long? Aren't they supposed to be awake by now?"

"What, no, not at all! It would be weird if they were up early!" Fishlegs explained with a laugh and a sparkle in his eyes.

Hiccup wasn't going to be fooled. "They must be sick. It's not normal for someone to sleep so long."

"Excuse me," Toothless took offense, narrowing his eyes and puffing out his chest, "everyone must get as much rest as they like! Are you saying there's something wrong with me?"

"No! What should be wrong with you? You just like to sleep for days and nights if you get the chance. Being lazy and sick is something different entirely." Hiccup scowled at his friend and flicked his tail from side to side. Toothless bared his teeth, repeated Hiccup's tail flick, shifted his weight from foot to foot, and crouched.

"Uh... What's going on?" Fishlegs asked uncertainly.

"Just don't hurt yourselves, you two," Meatlug ordered.

Hiccup had forgotten to answer Fishlegs in his intent pursuit of Toothless, and had also completely forgotten about the sleeping trio of Vikings he had been so interested in a moment ago. He mimicked Toothless' attitude and waited. He cocked his ear at a different angle - at which point Toothless jumped, and the dragon and the dragon boy engaged in a playful fight.

Toothless had to be careful not to accidentally hurt Hiccup with his claws as they dug in and feigned a fight. They rolled from side to side until they finally rolled away from the makeshift campsite and the terrified Fishlegs.

Toothless tried his best to grab Hiccup with his paws and pin him in place. He pretended to bite and growl while Hiccup used all his strength to roll the heavy dragon onto his back and get to his soft and very ticklish belly. The Night Fury seemed to be the master of dodging, however, as before Hiccup had a chance to roll the dragon in a furious chaos of limbs and wings, the ground disappeared beneath their feet. A momentary feeling of weightlessness followed.

They flew down the cliff, straight into the pond beneath a waterfall.

All of Hiccup's senses were overwhelmed by the cold water - he couldn't say he loved it outright, but he wasn't as afraid of it as Toothless was. He flapped his wings as fast as he could and freed himself from the wet grip of the pond. He didn't want to be there a second longer than he had to. Before he could shake the water off him, something slammed into him from the side and knocked him back into the water. Hiccup quickly poked his head out to see Toothless grinning at him from above with his toothless jaws.

"I won again!" boasted the Night Fury, as excited as a little hatchling.

Hiccup flew out of the water and shook it off of him. "This time," he growled, promising a rematch.

"What was that? I t-thought you were at each other's throats!" Fishelgs stood on the edge of the cliff, looking down at them, Snotlout and the twins beside him with startled looks, their dragons right next to them. The noise caused by their play must have woken them up.

"So?"

"Even if they did, it would be amazing!"

Snotlout looked around suddenly. "Has anyone seen Astrid?"

Fishlegs shook his head. "I haven't seen her all morning, but I'm sure she's fine. You know she gets up long before sunrise, it's Astrid."

"Shouldn't she be here by now?" This time it was Ruffnut who looked around. "If I were Astrid, I'd be back for breakfast by now."

"That reminds me," Snotlout spoke up, "I'm starving, where am I going to get something to eat around here?"

Weird. I thought I already posted this chapter last week. Am I just imagining things?