Secret of a Dragon (An HTTYD Story)

Chapter Nine: Twist's Return

OH MY GODS I AM SOOOOOOOOOO SORRY I AM A TERRIBLE PERSON HOW DO YOU PUT UP WITH ME???????? SOMEONE NEEDS TO SLAP ME UNTIL I AGREE TO UPDATE QUICKER!!

Enjoy this one for the long while until I update again!

That night, all of the teenagers gather on top of one of the battlements to roast chicken and fish over a fire. Hiccup is squished between Crystal and Autumn. He has been distant for the whole meeting, thinking about the Night Fury and a name. He has been subconsciously calling her Toothless, and has come up with nothing else. Gobber is telling them the story of a dragon raid long ago.

"...an' with one twist, he took my hand an' swallowed it whole," he said dramatically. "An’ I saw th' look on 'is face. I was delicious! He must've passed th' word, because it wasn' a month before another one of 'em took my leg." He displayed his leg to the teens as he finished.

"Isn’t it weird to think your hand was inside a dragon?" muses Fishlegs. "Like, if your mind was still in control of it, you could have killed the dragon from the inside, but crushing its heart or something."

Crystal barks a laugh, but the other girls turn to him in disgust. Tuffnut appears disturbed.

"I swear, I'm so angry right now!" fumes Snotlout. "I’ll avenge your beautiful hand and your beautiful foot. I'll chop off the legs of every dragon I fight. With my face," he adds contemptuously.

"Let me know how that works out," mutters Crystal, only enough for Hiccup to hear. Despite his preoccupation, he snorts.

"Mm, mm, mm," says Gobber, wiping his mouth. "It’s th' wings an' th' tails ya really want. If it can' fly, it can' get away. A downed dragon, is a dead dragon."

Hiccup's mind jumps back to Toothless. What has he done? Has he doomed her? She cannot fly without her tail wing. How can she survive, if what Gobber said is true?

And in that instant he vows to help her.

Gobber yawns. "Well, I'm off to bed. You should be, too. Tomorrow we get to th' big boys, slowly but surely workin' our way up to th' Monstrous Nightmare. But who will win th' honor of killin' it?"

While he is taking, Hiccup stands and walks away. He hears footsteps follow him a few paces, but doesn't turn. He hears the conversation continue above.

"It's gonna be me," says Tuffnut confidently. "It's my destiny. See?"

Fishlegs gasps. "Your mom let you get a tattoo?"

"It's not a tattoo. It's a birthmark."

"It's a blob," says Crystal.  Autumn bursts out in laughter.

But then Hiccup can no longer hear the group. He enters the workshop and closes the door, making sure that no one could see him through the window. He opens his notebook to his drawing of Toothless, taking in the scribbled mess that used to be the Night Fury’s tail, and draws it back in. This is how he will help her.

Hiccup spends most of the night in the workshop, creating a replacement tail for Toothless using leather and metal. The metal would keep the tail from folding uncontrollably, but he doesn’t exactly know how yet. He did not secure the metal rods firmly in place, so they can swivel freely. But doesn’t know how he will keep the tail from folding inward.

Ah, well, he thinks, I'll --

But he stops himself. The typical Viking saying is, "We'll kill that dragon when we reach it."

And he isn't sure he will ever say that again.

 Sometimes my eyes play tricks on me.

A few times, I have seen the Monstrous Nightmare from the raid hovering around the sky or standing next to me; and then when I turn, it is gone. At least once a day, I think I see Twist somewhere on the edge of my vision, disappearing the moment I blink.

But I know that what I see when I am on the tower with the other teens, I know that this isn't a trick.

I casually stand and walk past Astrid and Gobber on my way down. Astrid cocks an eyebrow, but Gobber barely spares me a glance. As soon as my feet touch the ground, I dash across the road as fast as I can, praying that no one notices. Thankfully I make it to the forest unseen.

To any other person, the darkness would have seemed impenetrable. They would not have been able to see their hand in front of their face, nor a tree a few inches from their nose. But I was born for the night. I make my way easily through the  underbrush, calling out in hoarse whispers every couple steps.

"You're alive!"

The Terrible Terror comes out of nowhere, fluttering around my head. I laugh. "Twist!" I cry, trying to push him away. He finally lands on a nearby branch, twitching with excitement.

"How did you survive that?" he demands immediately.

I shrug. "I just did. I didn't really do anything."

"How did you get out of the trap?"

I hesitate. "Do you promise not to tell that -- that monster?"

Twist flinches and looks down. "I left," he says quietly.

"You -- what?" I gasp. No dragon has ever simply left before.

"I just left," he whispers. "I told everyone I was going to get food, and I just... never went back."

I sigh. "Well," I smile, "that means we're on the same page. I'm never going back. And I guess I can tell you what's happened, too."

I take a deep breath. Maybe he is lying. Maybe the Monstrous Nightmare is waiting for him to return. What if? What if? What if?

I shut off that part of my mind.

"Hiccup cut me free," I say finally.

Twist gasps. "Him? The one who shot you down?"

I nod. "Him. He couldn't kill me, I saw it in his eyes. But the worst part is... I lost my tail wing. I can't fly anymore."

He groans. "So what now?"

"Well," I begin slowly, still worried, "he's trying to help, although he doesn't realize that his Night Fury is me. We were in a cove yesterday, and he was drawing, so I decided to try as a dragon. I didn't do anything, of course, but he seemed to like that I could. And... we made friends. Again."

"Wow," Twist says after a pause. "So you're in quite a mess."

"I guess you can say that."

"Could I join you?" he says, taking me completely by surprise.

"Wh -- what?"

"I'd rather be in a mess with a human than a mess with... her."

I grin. "Sure. Meet me in the cove tomorrow. He left early from the dinner. I think he has something planned."

Oh, gods, peeps, I am so sorry. My friends and I are writing a story together. Currently, we have around sixty pages, but ironically the first chapter isn't even done. As soon as it is, I will begin to put it up. I also hit writer's block in the middle of this chapter, but I think it turned out good. What do you think?

Bye!