On Love's Wings ~ A Snotlout Jorgenson Fanfiction

Chapter 19 ~ The Heart Is Mightier

   The seasons began to shift again, the flowers emerging from under the icy frost, petals in full bloom as the sun came out from the gray cloud banks. Though the air itself was different, I could feel something else had changed, something between Snotlout and I. My boyfriend had been acting strange, more jumpy than usual and a bit secretive. Unable to help myself, I worried that things had been moving too fast for our relationship, and he was perhaps overwhelmed.

This strange emotion settled in my stomach, hard to ignore no matter how many times I told myself I was overreacting. To my great frustration, it seemed permanent, like a romance disease, a tick stuck under the skin. At least, this was the case prior to one of the most bizarre days of my life. I awoke early one morning with a note on my pillow. At first, I had assumed it was from my mother. My heart rate hastened when I realized that it was not at all my mother's hand, but in fact, a certain leader of the dragon riders. Snotlout. "Come to the Dragon Races this morning. Something big is about to happen." It read. I quickly got out of bed, nearly running to the door to leave my home, throwing on my weapons and boots as I exited the hut. What is he planning? I wondered, stepping outside. Nightwing was playing with Seastrike and Duskwing on the grass in front of the hut, tumbling with her daughters in a mass of limbs and wings. It was so good to see her back to her old self. "Come on guys, I have to go to the races." I announced, feeling guilty about cutting their playtime short. Nightwing immediately straightened up, coming to my side to wait as her daughters disentangled themselves from one another. She rolled her eyes as she noticed their tails had inadvertently tied into a knot. Duskwing had to use her claw to unhook herself from the smaller dragon, causing Seastrike to fall down as her tail disengaged from her sister's. Once they were both upright, we were off, heading to the stadium.

The trek was short and uneventful, and to my surprise, the arena was packed full when I arrived. Except for a seat beside the Chief's chair. Hiccup was standing where his father used to, and when he met my eyes, he smiled in a way that told me something was definitely up. My mother and Gothi stood on his other side, whispering and gesturing amongst themselves. I made my way up to them, sliding passed a number of vikings, all of which were staring at me with an emotion I couldn't quite read. "Hey, Hiccup!" I called. "Brenna! Glad you can make it, come stand with me." He invited, motioning to the empty space at his side. "What's happening?" I asked him, doing as he had said. His grin grew wider. "You'll see...take a look..." He trailed off, crossing his arms over his chest.

Before I had a chance to ask him what he meant, the horn bellowed overhead, startling me momentarily as it signaled the beginning of the race. When I turned my gaze back to the center of the stadium, a whirl of color was already zooming past. One was an electric blue, another an acid green, then light brown, and finally dark orange, all splashed with warpaint in a variety of bright shades. My friends and my boyfriend atop their dragons. A few white sheep were catapulted into the air for my friends to catch. I watched on in intrigue as the race went as it usually did, except this time there seemed to be teams. The twins and Fishlegs against Astrid and Snotlout, which was definitely odd considering how the arrangement was normally opposite of how it was presently. The twins caught the first couple sheep, and then they went to Fishlegs by mere luck. This ultimately reversed in my best friend's favor, when Meatlug ended up being whipped by Stormfly's tail, and the sheep went sailing through the sky until they landed in Astrid's arms and Stormfly's talons. The pair did a death roll before turning upright and flying straight upward. Snotlout and Hookfang zoomed passed as well, three sheep bleating worriedly as they were slung into the marked basket of the viking boy. I cheered for my boyfriend, hoping for him to win. These races still meant a great deal to him.

Another round of this went on, Barf and Belch capturing two more sheep in their front and back legs, before Hookfang down under them from and angle and ripped one of the creatures away with his own talons. Meatlug and Fishlegs surprised Stormfly in what looked like a vengeful sort of full body impact, sending Astrid's sheep hurling toward the twins. Snotlout circled back, diving between Fishlegs and Astrid so that Stormfly could get space to move and retrieve the sheep from the Zippleback. The riders went about this for quite a while, and eventually all the white sheep had been caught.