Run Away

Flying and Falling

"I'm finished son. You want to go flying now?" I beamed. "Yeah!" She passed me my shoulder guard, and I grabbed the other one and strapped them on. Toothless appeared next to me, and I hopped on. We left, and mom climbed onto Cloudjumper once we got outside. She looked over at me. "Ready?" I nodded eagerly. We flew down the long passageway and eventually broke into the open sky. Me and Toothless did a barrel roll, just enjoying being out of the nest. Mom flew up next to us on Cloudjumper. "Enjoying yourself?" I nodded, grinning like an idiot. I didn't get out of the nest very often. My first year with mom I hardly got out at all. Two or three times the whole year. Mom said that what she did was dangerous, and that she didn't want me getting hurt. So I stayed inside and worked at the forge, drew, or flew and explored inside with Toothless while she was gone. For my sixteenth birthday, my first birthday with her, she told me that I could go out with her once a week. So far, we'd kept that up, though sometimes we had to cancel. Now I was eighteen, and every now and then mom would take me to free a trapped dragon. And then there were times like this, when we just went out for the fun of it. I patted Toothless's side. "Whatdya say bud, you wanna go up?" He roared in agreement, and I leaned forward. "Go!" He shot upwards, and in seconds we were far above the clouds. We hovered for a few seconds, then I stood up and jumped. The wind in my face felt amazing. Toothless fell after me. He tapped me with his paw, and I spun, grinning like an idiot. We fell past mom and Cloudjumper, and I laughed at her completely surprised expression. Just as I was about to hit the water Toothless flew underneath me, and we flew back up to meet mom. I laughed. "That was awesome!" She pointed a finger at me. "You two are going to get yourselves seriously hurt one of these days." I held up my hands. "Hey, you said we were daredevils!" She smiled. "And I meant it." That night after I got ready for bed I sat on the floor with Toothless and my lap desk. I held up my drawing of him for him to see. "Whatdya think, bud?" He cocked his head to the side and smiled at it. I nodded. "Yeah, me too." I took a nail and drove it into the wall over my bed next to my other favorite sketches. Mom came up behind me and put her hands on my bare shoulders. "You're gonna need a bigger wall son." I nodded. "True." She brushed soot off of my arms and kissed my cheek. "Good night Hiccup." I crawled into bed and pulled my blanket up to my waist. Toothless laid down in his usual spot at the foot of my bed and fell asleep, and in a few minutes I did too. I woke up with a shout. Toothless's head jerked up, and mom got up and rushed over. I stared forward breathing heavily. Mom gently grabbed my cheeks in her hands and turned my head so I was looking at her. "Hiccup, it's okay! It was just a dream, calm down." I ran my fingers through my hair. "Oh my gods mom! Dad, he- he said I was a disappointment, that I was a failure, and- and..." I choked back a sob and she pulled my head to her chest in a hug. "It's okay, Hiccup. It's okay. Your not a disappointment and your not a failure." I looked up at her with tears running down my face. "I have to go back. I need to let him know I'm okay! He probably thinks I've been eaten by dragons! Heck, we still need to tell them the truth about them!" She held my head and ran her fingers through my hair. "I understand son. I understand." She released me and held me at arms length. "But if your going to face your father, we BOTH need to go face your father." I looked up at her, surprised. "Really?"  She nodded. "I'd say it's time I face Stoick."