In The Shadows || how to train your dragon ||

TWENTY-TWO

   I was up quite late that night, sitting at the small desk, trying to figure out how all of the islands were connected. Thunder could sense my stress and couldn't sleep either. I let out a loud groan and looked over at my dragon. He was sitting close by, but everything in this room was pretty close by. Thunder could barely fit.

"I just can't figure it out." I complained to him. "It doesn't add up."

I heard a knock at the door and Hiccup's voice, "You up?" He asked from the other side.

"Yeah, come in." I replied and turned in my seat to face him. 

"Bit of a tight squeeze in here." Hiccup said as he let himself in. Toothless poked his head in through the door but didn't bother trying to come in. The room was filled enough with two vikings and another Night Fury in it.

"We make do, right, Thundy?" Thunder gave us a smile that read yes, but his eyes said no.

"Well your place should be ready soon enough." Hiccup informed me with a devilish grin on his face.

"What did you do, Hiccup Haddock?" I asked him suspiciously.

"Okay, don't be mad, but I was just so excited about it that earlier today, I had the plans for it finalized. I was going to wait to tell you so it was a surprise but I couldn't hold it in any longer." Hiccup cheerfully said. "It's actually not too far away from my place, I figured chiefs should stay close." I added on sheepishly.

"Well," I said, dragging on the sentence, "I guess, thank you."

   It got silent for a bit after that, but it wasn't an awkward. No, it was more of a 'we're both in deep though' kind and I didn't mind. 

That is, until Hiccup spoke up again, "Hey, where's Dreamclaw?" He asked, quite confused on he whereabouts.

"She gets quite upset at night, ever since Hall's death. She takes some night flights to calm down. I've offered to join her but I think she prefers to be alone right now." I explained to him, feeling bad for the dragon. Of course, I felt upset too, but nothing is quite like a bond between a dragon and it's human. If Thunder was gone, nothing would make me feel better.

"I couldn't even imagine losing Toothless. He's my best friend." Hiccup said quietly, but it was loud enough for Toothless to hear because before we knew it, Toothless gave a big lick right up Hiccup's back. "Oh, gross!" Hiccup yelled and stood up quickly. Toothless laughed, as well as a dragon could, and gave him one more before running out the front door.

"What a dragon." I chuckled and put my arm around Thunder's neck. "If you dare lick me, I will beat your little booty." I warned Thunder with a smile on my face. He gave me the Night Fury's infamous toothless smile that always made my heart melt. 

   Hiccup didn't bother running after the crazy dragon as he knew Toothless would realize, eventually, that he did not follow. He laughed a little bit, though you could tell he was a bit irritated. "Guess who is losing a fish tomorrow." Hiccup mocked him before sitting back down by me. "So what's all that?" He asked, gesturing to my notebook and the sheets of paper scattered around it.

"I've been trying to figure out how all of the islands are tied together." I said to him as I moved the notebook closer to him. "This is my current theory. It's that, maybe, there's a resource that's on each island. A useful one, perhaps for battle, and it's most popular on those specific islands." I explained it to him as his eyes scanned the paper.

"Sounds plausible." He agreed as he leaned back in his chair. "Any idea what the resource could be?" He asked me, sighing.

"No, but I'm working on it. Wood is everywhere, so that's out. Water is in that same boat. I was thinking a type of plant, but that seems unlikely given the drastic climate changed between each island. I mean, what plant is that adaptable? I was considering a type of rock, but looking at each island, that seems unlikely as well. There's one final idea though."

"What is that?"

"Dragons."

*****

I finally got a laptop, so chapters will start going up more regularly again! I have all next week to do nothing so expect some more. I do have plans this weekend though, so there may be one more chapter tomorrow and than that's it for a few days.

Anyways, thanks so much for reading. It means so much to me. Please remember to vote, comment, and share!