That Divine Beauty: Perfect?

Chapter 2: Trouble

"Come on Aaron, we have to get going!" Hope yelled, dragging her lazy friend behind her.

"Ugh, but why? I just want to stay here." He complained.

"Because if we don't both of our parents aren't going to be happy. Its really late and I can't believe I let you drag me out here."

"We really aren't that far away from the village. I just wanted to show you the cove. I was thinking that we could start having, like, group meeting there or something. Like, that could be our group's headquarters. And since you're the second oldest in the group, that makes you Co captain and I wanted to get your permission." Aaron explained. Hope sighed, turning around to face her friend.

"I don't care where we have group meetings. So yes, we can have meetings in the cove... Now come on we have to get back. Its getting close to my curfew and if I don't get back by then, then I'm in big trouble."

"Okay, okay. Come on, lets go."

The two of them trudged through the forest. It was so dark out that they could barely see in front of them. Aaron walked straight into a couple of trees a few times. He was walking behind Hope, but she was a little farther ahead of him. He walked with his head hung low, the tiredness consuming him. But his head shot straight up when he heard someone scream in front of him.

"Hope?!?" He called out, not hearing an answer. "Hope!!" He sped up to a jog, moving through the forest looking for his friend. He came to a halt when he found himself struggling for his balance. Once he regained his balance, he looked down, noticing a huge Whispering Death hole.

"Hope?" He called into the tunnel.

"Aaron?" He faintly heard her whisper through the tunnel. "Please h-" He heard before everything got quiet again.

"Don't worry Hope, I'm coming." He called back. He paced around trying to think of a way to help his friend. She was one of his closest friends and he had to help her. He was starting to get worried, but then he thought of a plan.

"Metallica!!" He called out. "Come here boy!!" He was hoping his dragon could hear him.

Finally he heard the familiar sound of metal faintly clanging together, the sound of Metallica's wings. The dragon landed beside his rider. Aaron rummaged through his saddle bag looking for some rope. Luckily he still had some in there. He took it and tied one end to Metallica's leg and the other end around his waist, hooking it trough his belt loops.

"Okay Metallica lift me up above the hole, then lower me down until you hear me say 'Okay.'" He instructed his dragon. Metallica did as told and when Aaron touched the bottom of the tunnel he yelled 'Okay' and untied himself.

"Hope? Where are you?" He called out, stumbling around in the dark. He tipped over something and fell forward. When he sat up, he realized he had tripped over Hope.

"Oh man, Hope, are you okay?" He asked, but she did not answer. He crawled over to her and shook her shoulders trying desperately to wake her up.

"Come on Hope." He shook her harder, but it was no use, she wouldn't wake up. She was unconscious. He found the rope again and tied it back around his waist. He picked Hope up and cradled her in his arms.

"Okay Metallica, get us out of here." The dragon flew up, pulling them out. Aaron laid Hope down at the edge of the hole and untied the rope. He felt something wet running down his arm. It was blood, Hope was bleeding. He quickly checked her and found a large gash across her ribs that probably came from a sharp stick or something.

"I'm so sorry Hope. I never meant for any of this to happen." He picked her back up and climbed on Metallica. They flew to the village and landed outside of the Haddock house. He slid off and carried Hope inside. He opened the door and found both his parents waiting for him.

"Where have yo-" Astrid started, but stopped when she noticed the young girl Aaron held in his arms. "Hayden! Go get Mr. Ingerman and bring him her quickly!" She told her son. He ran out of the house to the Ingerman's.

"Bring her here Aaron, lay her on the table." Hiccup told his son as he cleared off the kitchen table.

"What happened to you guys?" Astrid asked, trying to help Aaron with Hope. He laid her on the table and took her hand, not answering his mother's question.

The door flung open and Fishlegs burst through with his wife and son and Hayden followed behind. Fishleg's walked over to the kitchen and grabbed Aaron by the collar of his shirt and lifted him up.

"What did you do to my daughter!?!" He raged. Aaron still didn't say anything. All this was his fault and he was ready to pay the price.

"Hey, calm down Fishlegs. We will get her all fixed up." Hiccup tried to reassure his friend. "Now, will you please put my son down." Fishlegs dropped Aaron on the ground. Aaron stood up and walked back to the table.

"What happened to her?" Fishlegs asked. Finally Aaron opened his mouth and spoke, but with a very distant look in his eyes as he remembered every little detail.

"I asked her to come with me to the forest because I wanted to show her the cove. I thought we could have group meetings there and we could train there too. We stayed there for a little while talking about our dragons... It got dark so we decided to go back. We could barely see 2ft in front of us. I had slowed down a bit because I was tired, but she was determined to get home quick. I heard her scream and I ran toward her, almost falling in a Whispering Death hole. Thats what happened to her. She fell down it. I called for Metallica and I used rope to get her out." A single tear creeped down his face. "There are you happy? Its all my fault that she's hurt." Aaron fled to his room leaving the adults to tend to Hope.