Dragon Paradise

Chapter 21

***Hicca's POV***

"Hey Toothless!" I say as I walk into the cove to find Toothless at the entrance, waiting for me.

"Sorry I didn't come earlier, a lot of things happened that were... unexpected." Toothless cocks his head at me, almost in a puppy-like way.

"Anyway, I have a surprise for you." I say, rocking back and forth on my heels, while hiding the tail fin behind my back. I wait a few seconds then, with a flourish, I bring my arm around me, revealing the tail fin to Toothless.

He seems to freeze, then slowly comes closer and sniffs the mechanical fin.

"It's a tail fin." I explain, "I felt bad about your tail so I built you a new one!" I say, with a grin on my face.

Do you want to try it out?" I question. He sits down and, based on his facial expression, he thinks about it. After a few seconds, he seems to make a decision, then, he nods.

I jump in excitement and go over to his tail. As I touch it, he freezes.

"I know this is going to feel weird, but you must stay still so I can apply it correctly to your tail fin. I want to help you fly, not hurt you even more, which might happen if you try to fly with it improperly attached." I say, looking up at him. At his nod, I straddle his tail, because I'm sure at some point, he will move involuntarily and I want to minimize that movement and start attaching the tail fin.

Once it is attached, I pat his tail and say "Alright, let's see what she can do!" Then, before I can get off of his tail, I feel him tense up then suddenly, I'm in the air, hanging off of Toothless' tail.

"Toothless!" I scream, holding on for dear life. But as we sort of fly, I look at the tail fin and notice that as he tries to fly, his tail fin angles itself into different position while my attachment just stays closed due to the amount of wind.

As I feel us going down, I reach out and yank the side of the tailfin out and we go higher. Then after he tries to turn, I am yanked off of his tail, closing the tailfin, and right as I splash into the lake below, I hear Toothless' splash two seconds behind mine.

As I get out of the pond, I look at Toothless miserably, and glare at my failed invention before stomping away.

I go over to the sandy area, near the water and lay down, staring at the sky, trying to distract myself from the failure that hurts me more than any of the past failures I have had.

Soon, I feel a presence next to me and speak without looking at Toothless.

"You can lay down if you want."

He huffs and does just that. It's silent, except for our breathing, before I speak up.

"I'm just really stressed right now. Between my dad, and Austen, I don't know what to do! Austen keeps trying to follow me around, in hopes of me saying that I have feelings for him! I used to but lately, I just don't feel anything towards him. Well, that's not entirely true. I feel almost a sort of brotherly love towards him. On top of that we have my dad!" I rant, getting more worked up as I go on.

"I just really don't know what to do." I whisper, closing my eyes.

"Just know that I'll be here if you need me."

I freeze, hearing the unfamiliar deep voice, coming from the spot where Toothless was laying down. My eyes snap open and I look over to see him staring intently at me, with an unidentifiable look in his eyes..

"Toothless?"