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

9

Heather looked at the ground and took a step forward. "Aldru, before Hiccup and the others came, I met with Viggo for the first time. Ryker took me into his tent and," she paused for a moment, "there was a pair of wings mounted on the back wall."

Immediately, Aldru's heart dropped. And although she feared she already knew the answer, she still asked, "..wings.?"

There was a hesitation, and in that time Aldru felt the tension grow. Then, Heather confirmed her fear, "they were from a song wing."

Aldru felt shock, sadness, and confusion enter her heart. "Yellow and orange?" She questioned, fighting to keep her voice from cracking in pain.

With a slow nod, Heather lowered her gaze again. "I'm so sorry, Aldru."

The song wing smiled weakly before asking another question, "is that all?"

Heather shook her head and went on, "no. I'm not sure how... but Viggo knows you exist, and he knows you're the last one.."

Aldru took a deep breath and nodded. She smiled at Heather and spoke sincerely, "thank you for telling me this." Then she turned around and left the building.

• • •

It was Hiccup's turn to do night watch. Heather had just left a few hours ago, and Aldru had been nowhere to be found since she recieved the news. Astrid filled the others in on what happened and reminded them to stay sensitive about it.

Once the moon was directly above, Hiccup noticed a silhouette sitting on top of a high plateau. Since Toothless was asleep, Hiccup found a safe way up. Finally reaching the top, he looked down; he was barely able to see the ocean waves at the bottom of the steep drop.

He stepped away from the edge and looked around for the figure. But after scanning the clear, grassy surface, he found no one. Confused, he turned to make his way back down.

"Looking for something?" A familiar voice called, stopping Hiccup in his tracks.

Hiccup whipped around to see Aldru hanging upside down from a tree branch by her knees. "Oh, I was just, uh..I thought I saw someone up here," he explained himself.

"Well, you did," Aldru assured before hopping out of the tree and landing gracefully on her feet, "I'm really starting to like these legs."

Hiccup smiled, glad to see that she seemed okay. He followed her to the edge of the cliff and they sat down together. As the silence thickened, he couldn't help but empathize, "Aldru, I know it's hard to--"

"Hiccup," the girl interrupted, glancing at him with a sideways grin, "I'm alright, really."

Although he was relieved by this, Hiccup couldn't help but feel even more confused. "But, you just found out that your sister..is gone.."

"My sister and I left our island of birth well aware that we'd never meet again," Aldru explained, "it was then and then only that I grieved the loss."

"Wow," Hiccup remarked, "that's, strong." He stared at her eyes as they stared at the horizon.

When Aldru looked back to him, she was surprised to catch him staring. She laughed lightly and concluded, "that's our way of life." Swinging her legs to dangle over the cliff, Aldru gripped the edge firmly with her hands. "The dragons, and people, a song wing comes to protect are more a family than our own species," she explained.

"Well, I'll make sure to tell that to Fishlegs so he can put it in his book," Hiccup joked, "that really is amazing." He let his eyes travel the island below him.

"That means you, too, you know," Aldru added. Hiccup turned back to her with a look of shock, earning a giggle from Aldru. "You and all of the other dragon riders," she went on and gestured back to the rest of the island, "you're all part of this now."

Hearing those words made his heart soar. Hiccup placed a hand over Aldru's and looked her in those full moon eyes. "You don't know how much that means to me."

And in that moment, Hiccup realized just what he was feeling. It scared him a bit, and made lots of room for doubt, but it also made him happy. Dragon or not, he never wanted to have to be without this girl.

• • •

"Seriously? Again?" Snotlout complained, "that the third time today."

Everyone stopped their training to look up. Perched on top of the tallest rooftop, Aldru sang yet another song. As it ended, she flew down to the arena and scurried over to the others. The riders watched in silence as she stopped and checked on each dragon. She even made sure that Chicken was alright before finally acknowledging the riders.

Aldru changed into human form and smiled brightly. But the others couldn't smile through this. For the past week, she'd been working in over-drive, and some were beginning to worry.

"Are you alright?" Astrid asked carefully.

Ruff and Tuff strode over to their song wing friend, each throwing an arm around her shoulders. "Of course she's alright," Ruff answered, "just look at that smile."

"And don't you think I would know if she wasn't?" Tuff asked, "I'm the one who found her; I'm like a..a second mother, who's also a father..and--"

"Okay, okay," Hiccup interrupted and suggested, "how about we let Aldru speak."

Aldru squirmed out of the twins' grasp and insisted, "I'm okay, I promise."

"We just don't want you to hurt yourself again," Fishlegs admitted, referring to the time she'd exhausted herself into fainting.

"I have a duty to carry out," Aldru reminded, "Viggo is sure to be looking for me, every dragon on the island needs to be sharp and ready."

Snotlout then opened his mouth, and Hiccup immediately knew this wasn't going to end well. "Well isn't that just, I don't know, maybe a bit, excessive?!" It was already obvious before that he was annoyed by the constant tedious work Aldru was doing, but this sealed the deal.

Aldru rested her eyes on Snotlout and squinted, but was unable to be angry. She walked over to him and reminded in a serious tone, "I'm now carrying my entire species on my shoulders, remember that."

As she walked away, Tuff muttered, "that's got to be heavy, I mean, how much does a whole species weigh?"

Snotlout, who was now red with embarrassment sighed and looked the the sky as he explained, "it's a metaphor, mutton heads."