A Siren's Song - A Hiccup Love Story (HTTYD/RTTE)

6

• • •

Everyone was getting their dragons ready for battle. For the first time since finding Aldru weeks ago, they had a shot at catching Dagur and Ryker off guard. Aldru stood on the landing platform in silence as everyone mounted their dragons.

"Hey, aren't you coming?" Fishlegs questioned before flying off.

Aldru smiled and answered awkwardly, "no, I'd better stay back."

"We could really use your help, though," Snotlout insisted, "imagine what a skull crushing song could do!"

With a slight cringe, Aldru answered, "ah, there's no such thing."

"Awe, come on, Nutty," Tuffnut pleaded.

Aldru giggled at the mention of the name. "I'll only make it harder for you guys, trust me," she insisted.

Hiccup frowned and hopped off of Toothless. "What makes you say that?" He questioned.

"Because of what I am," Aldru responded casually with a soft smile, "if I go, I am going to be the main target. And if I'm not caught, they'll never stop tracking me. For now, it's best they don't believe song wings exist."

Astrid made her way over to Aldru and smiled. With a hand on the song wing's shoulder, Astrid assured, "we understand."

With that, the dragon riders were back on track. One by one they lifted off into the air, Hiccup going last. He turned back to Aldru for one last statement, "be safe."

Aldru grinned wide. "You be safe."

Toothless leapt from the platform and took off after the other riders. As Dragon's Edge faded into the distance, they all heard a faint song. Hiccup turned around to see Aldru flying through the clouds above the island.

"What's she doing?" Astrid asked no one in particular.

Tuffnut responded, puffing out his chest, "can't you feel it? She's wishing us good luck."

To Hiccup's surprise, Tuff was right. He could feel positivity and strength flow in his veins. "And from a song wing, that means we'll definitely have good luck," he confirmed with a confident grin; he knew they could do this.

• • •

After a quick, successful mission, the dragon riders returned to their home. "And Hookfang didn't set me on fire even once!" Snotlout bragged as the six made there way to find Aldru.

"But did you guys see how Meatlug and I handled those catapults?" Fishlegs asked proudly.

"Yes, we all did, very good," Hiccup assured everyone with amusement.

"All thanks to Aldru," Astrid reminded.

Hiccup nodded and smiled, "which is why we're going to thank her right now..it would've been a close call without that song."

But after looking around, Hiccup began to worry. It was odd enough that she wasn't waiting outside to greet them when they returned. Not being able to find her, on top of that, rose a red flag.

"Something must've happened while we were gone," Ruff observed nervously.

"But what could've happened?" Hiccup questioned, "no one else knows about this place."

"Hiccup, over here!" Fishlegs shouted from behind the dragon stables. Everyone rushed over to find him holding and unconscious girl in his arms.

"Wha-?!" Tuff blurted, "what happened?!"

"I just found her like this," Fishlegs insisted, "her pulse is fine but.."

"But she's still unconscious," Hiccup finished for him. He then ordered, "Snotlout, Ruff, Tuff, check out the area and see if you can find anything. Astrid, can you do an aerial search?"

Astrid nodded strongly and called for her dragon, "Stormfly!" Within seconds they were off. Everyone else fanned out in the area while Fishlegs and Hiccup flew Aldru back to the club house. Fishlegs laid her down on a thin matt made of yak skin and fur. Toothless, Meatlug, and Hookfang gathered in after them to see Aldru.

"She's alright, Toothless," Hiccup comforted his worried dragon.

Fishlegs examined her as best as he could before concluding, "there's no physical damage, maybe she ate something poisonous."

Hiccup leaned over Aldru and looked into her sleeping face. "That's not likely," he countered, "she's lived here her whole life; she'd know whether something was okay to eat or not."

Fishlegs shrugged in agreement. There was a long silence then. Hiccup could only stare at the girl and wonder what went wrong. Finally, Fishlegs spoke, "I guess all we can do is wait for her to wake up."

With a loud crashing sound, Barf and Belch stormed into the club house. They raced over to Aldru and dropped two, massive mouthfuls of water onto her. Immediately, her eyes opened and she began to squirm and cough. "Oh, or that," Fishlegs added awkwardly.

"Aldru," Hiccup breathed. He helped her to sit up and sighed in relief, "thank the gods you're alright; what happened?" Barf and Belch nuzzled her sides happily.

After processing that she was, in fact, suddenly soaked, Aldru spoke. "The song for luck," she said, "I guess it wore me out..I remember landing, but then.."

Hiccup then focused all of his attention on Aldru. "Your songs can really tire you out that much?" He asked curiously.

Aldru yawned, "it's never happened before; but then again, I've never used one like that before either."

Fishlegs got up and rumaged around for a notebook, exclaiming, "ooo, this is so interesting!"

Aldru giggled as she watched the Viking scribble in his notes. Not long after, Astrid arrived back, followed closely by the others. Everyone was relieved to see Aldru awake and alright. But it was clear that she still needed rest.

After changing into her dragon form, Aldru climbed onto Hookfang's back and curled up. The monstrous nightmare looked back at her with admiration and gurgled happily. He flamed up just slightly to keep the small dragon warm as she slept.

"Kiss-up," Snotlout scoffed at his dragon. This, however, only earned him a hard glare and a puff of smoke to the face.

Hiccup watched in awe. "These dragons really do go above and beyond for song wings."

"It's amazing," Astrid admitted.

Fishlegs finished up with his notebook and frowned slightly. "I just wish we knew more about their history. I mean, Aldru can only tell us so much."

It was agonizingly true; most of what was ever known about this species was long gone. Hiccup feared they might never know the full story, not even Aldru.