Through Your Eyes:Chapter 9

Raise Your Head Up

"Son of man look to the sky,
Lift your spirit, set it free.
Some day you'll walk tall with pride.
Son of man, a man in time you'll be."


"Glad teh see yeh finally decided teh join us Hiccup…I didn' thin' tha' yeh'd take 'later' literally."

"Yeah I know, I lost track of time and…"

"Yeah, don' Hiccup, I don' thin' tha' yer takin' this seriously…yeh can' always lose track o' time…I can' keep waitin' fer yeh teh decide to show up. Tha' ain' fair to th' others."

Biting my lip, I side glance at the others who were already waiting in the ring to begin. I really hadn't meant to be so late, it's just I really did lose track of time. If Toothless hadn't dunked me the second time, I probably would have been here earlier.  I did feel guilty though, Gobber was trying to help me and all I can do is get side tracked and show up late, shifting from one foot to the other I look back up at him.

"Yeah I know, I'm sorry…it won't happen again." He raised an eyebrow at me with his hand on his hip. "I promise…really. Trust me I know how serious this is, I won't let you down." I grin up at him; this seemed to make him relax for he slapped his hand on my shoulder and pushed me toward the others.

"Tha' better be true lad, I hope so. 'therwise your father'll have me head. Now, grab yer bucket so we can ge' started."

Everyone was already holding his or her bucket by the time that I got mine. Gobber went over to open the gate to the next dragon we were going up against. I began wondering what dragon we were going up against, gripping the bottom of my bucket as I waited anxiously for the dragon to come bursting out and started praying that this eel trick worked for the rest of the dragons and not just Night Furies.  

'My luck that'll be a trait meant specifically for Night Furies…' I scowled at the door as Gobber released the lock. Nothing happened for the first few seconds, then the doors burst open and smoke filtered out covering the arena in a green fog. This caused me to flinch and clutch the bucket more tightly.

"Today is all abou' teamwork; a wet dragonhead can' light its fire, so th' Zippleback is extra tricky. One head breathes gas, and th' other one lights it, your job is teh figure ou' which is which."

'Oh great.' I groan inwardly, I slowly back up, right into Fishlegs. I was at least glad that I had gotten Fishlegs instead of Snotlout or the twins…all though Astrid would have been better, I'd like her to have my back and me hers. 'Come on Hiccup. Remember what Gobber said; FOCUS!' Furrowing my brows, I start to glare into the green fog, and then Fishlegs voice broke through my concentration.

"Razor-sharp serrated teeth that inject venom for pre-digestion. Prefers ambush attack to crushing its victims."

Okay that's really not helping my confidence any, agitatedly I swivel around glaring at the bigger boy behind me. "Will you please stop that?" I hissed at him, he flinched, must've surprised him by my outburst because normally I don't ever speak out, but seriously, come on.

Again, my eyes scan over the green fog, not really liking that I couldn't see anything two feet in front of me. Man, still no sign of the dragon, was this the one that had stealth times two…I was about to ask Fishlegs when I heard the low rumble of Snotlouts' obnoxious voice.

"If that dragon shows either of its faces, I'm gonna…THERE!" Whirling around my heart shooting up toward my throat, my shaking hands clutched the bucket, and my eyes were darting to find a big shadow, but I saw nothing. After a few more seconds, I heard Ruffnut and Astrid exclaim in protest.

"Hey, it's us idiots." Must be Ruffnut, Astrid doesn't sound nearly that scratchy.

"You're butts are getting bigger, we thought you were a dragon." I flinch after that comment. Nothing good could ever come of that comment, if there's one thing I know is to NEVER comment on a woman's figure especially in a negative aspect.

"Not that there's anything wrong with a dragon-esque figure." Punches and blows landing signaled that they had indeed not taking it well. I didn't really understand how Snotlout thought that that would help,  then a scream resounded in the arena which brought me back to focus on what was happening around me.

The shouts sounded like Tuffnut, swallowing I try to calm myself down but it was getting harder to do, what with a two head dragon moving around the smoke like Toothless did in the night sky…hey…that reminded me that I have to go to the blacksmiths shop afterward and get started on the saddle for Toothless. Not to mention a rope I can use to tug the tail fin open. Another shout rattled me back to earth.

"AH, I'm hurt! I am very much HURT!" A couple more shouts and clattering reached my ears that sounded like the girls and I began to feel that I really wanted to be anywhere else but here.

'Heh, this is going great…the dragon had managed to get past four of us with out getting detected. What a promising bunch we are.'

"Chances of survival are dwindling into the single digits now…"

I close my eyes; slightly put off by his negative attitude, I mean so the dragon took out the best of us…doesn't mean anything…besides I've still got my ace. Feeling the weight of the eel press against my shoulder reassured me that I had nothing to worry about…or so I hoped.

The slight gasps from Fishlegs made me tilt my head, and then I saw one of the heads of the Zippleback come sniffing its way out of the fog into sight. Seeing Fishlegs shudder and start jumping back, I thought that he was gonna pass out or shriek…or possibly both he certainly was capable of both, when the head came toward him. I side stepped and pulled back as all its attention was on Fishlegs.

'I wonder where the other head is…' I start slowly scanning the arena that was starting to become visible again. 'Man it shouldn't be this hard to spot a dragon…much less one with two heads…'

"Oops…heh- heh…wrong head." I hear a slight gurgle followed by a hissing sound, which was then followed by, "AHHHHHHHHH!"

"FISHLEGS!" Gobber shouts at the boy and I turn just in time to see Fishlegs speed past me in a panic, hands flailing above his head like that helped him go faster. Shaking my head, I slowly turn to see four glowing yellow eyes peering down at me. 'Now, I find the other head…wonderful…I just wish I knew which one was the right one. I should've been watching Fishlegs! Gods what happened to focus Hiccup? I really need to start doing that it would be helpful.' I watch as the head on the right starts to try and lit a spark, so that's the one…

"Now, Hiccup!"

Oh, right! Focusing, I run up toward the heads, toss the water at them, and hold the bucket above my head. A resounding sound of water hitting the ground splashed in my eardrums. Opening my eyes I see the one head I was trying to splash had swooped back down to my level…not wet. Why me…

"Ah, Come on…" It then surged forward trying to start a spark again at me. Falling backward, I thought I was gonna die when it hissed and extended his wings at me, looking all to happy to have only one of us left. This display might be a scare tactic…or something to show superiority or whatever it was I didn't care as I began to crawl backward trying to get away from it.

"Hiccup!" I heard Gobbers worried laced voice run into my ears. I wanted to tell him that it was okay, that I got this…but unfortunately, I think that I didn't have control over the situation, and they had been depending on me. No one to save me now…I was prepared to get fried when it suddenly recoiled starting to hiss at me.

'Wha…' I blink at them, and then images of Toothless hit me, me holding the eel and that's when it occurred to me, 'Ah, the eel of course! How could I have forgotten?' I grin as I remembered my ace and slowly stood up using this was an amazing discovery to gain the upper hand. It seemed that it wasn't just Night Furies that hated eels it was the rest of them too…well Zipplebacks anyway…still this was good news for me.  Starting to get the sense of superiority I start to head toward the dragon that was slowly backing away from me.

"Back, get back I said. Back! Now don'…don't you make me tell you again…" I had backed them all the way into their cage and they pushed themselves to the wall opposite me, looking like they wanted to become part of the wall to get away. 'Not very fun being cornered is it?'  "Back into your cage…" This was just too amazing; I had a Zippleback recoiling in the corner of its cage, how awesome was this? I glance over my should to make sure that no one was right behind me, and I then shift my eyes toward the Zipplebacks I lift my vest and slowly pulled the eel off my left shoulder. "Now think about what you've done." With that, I throw the eel into the cage, and they hiss at it and try to push further away from it.

So that it wouldn't try to launch itself toward the doors to get away I, with all my strength, push the heavy wooden doors shut. Smirking, I give a satisfied sigh and I turn around wiping my hands to get the slim off only to come face to face with ten pairs of eyes staring at me perplexed. They looked lost, confused, amazed even; Fishlegs even dropped the bucket he was holding. There is only one word to describe a situation such as this; awkward.

"Okay, are we done? Cause I've got some stuff I've got uh…" I quickly try to escape their gaze by heading toward the exit.  "Umm…" Not use to people staring at me amazed instead of angrily or annoyed…I really didn't know what to do…so leaving was the best I could do…besides I have to get work on Toothless' saddle anyway. "Yup, yup…I'll…I'll see ya tomorrow!" With that, I ran out of there as if a Nightmare was on my heels.

"Yeah!" I shout as I escaped their earshot. Excitement shot through me like a fish through water. I've never felt this feeling of such accomplishment before…especially twice in one day. "Oh this is amazing, thank you Toothless!" I guess in retrospect he helped me, so I now felt like I owed him even more then I did before.  Running toward the blacksmiths shop, I was ready to work on his saddle.

I ran all the way to the blacksmiths shop, replacing my vest with the apron and searched for a spare block of wood so that I could shape it into the form of a saddle, 'I know I saw one around here somewhere…AH!' After I pull it out, I then place it on the table so that I could start shaping it.

I wasn't sure how long it took me to carve out the base for the saddle, but it finally reached a state where I was satisfied with the size and the shape of it. Springing up, I walk over toward where I had laid out the leather that I was going to use on the saddle.  This is how I spent the rest of the evening and late into night. Shaping, stuffing, mounting sewing, nailing, and finally adding a coating to keep the leather from cracking and drying.  Placing it on the floor, I observe the saddle to make sure everything is attached and ready to go.

"Not bad if I do say so myself." I grin, then after ridding myself of the apron I throw my vest on, hoist the saddle under my arms, and make my way home. Glancing at the sky, I would have guessed that it must be around midnight with the way the moon was sitting in the sky.  Furrowing my brows, I could've sworn that it was at least the after noon when I started. 'Huh, that must've taken longer then I originally thought…' Sliding into my house I hoist the saddle on the table, looking at it proudly. It's not the best made I'll admit…but it'll do for now.

Stretching my tired muscles, I slump off to bed. I hadn't eating anything since this afternoon, but food would have to wait, I was too tired to even care that I was hungry.  'I'll just eat...breakfast…tomor…' I didn't even finish that thought because I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

--Break--

As I got closer to the entrance, I slowed my pace holding the strap to the basket in one hand and the saddle under my other arm. Remembering how I'd tipped the basked with the eel at his face, he was no doubt ready to get back at me so I had to be prepared.

Peeking my head around the corner, I look around and got worried when I didn't see him anywhere…oh this wasn't good. Biting my lip, I slowly lower the saddle to the ground before I enter. Grasping the basket with both hands, I creep forward, I learned my lesson from last time and I twirl around to make sure he wasn't lurking behind the rock. He wasn't.

"Toothless…I know you're here buddy…I got some Icelandic Cod for ya…"

Placing the basket on the ground, I start to wander around the valley looking for the black dragon. "Come one bud, you're not still mad at me from yesterday are you?  I didn't want to but I had to have my basket back..." Thinning my lips, I begin to look in the trees for the dragon. 'Come on, he's a big black dragon in the middle of a sunny valley, where in the world could he be?' Placing my hands on my hips, I scan the area across the lake one more time and after not seeing him,  I started to think that maybe he had figured out how to get out.

'Please don't tell me that's the case. Please Woden don't let him have gone far.' I spin around toward where I left the saddle and the basket of fish ready to go look for him when I see something that stops me right in my tracks. The basket was gone, now I knew he was still here. Furrowing my brows, I carefully walk over to where I'd had the basket and look to see where he'd gone up to.

"Okay, Toothless this isn't funny anymore…you can come out now." I thin my lips when nothing happened. Where could he possibly be hiding? I could feel his eyes watching me, from somewhere. I really don't know what he was doing but I was slowly losing my patience with him…I mean I didn't figure he'd listen…I mean after all it's only been like three days but come on! I've provided him with fresh fish, I'd repaired his tail fin…that's about it…okay so I really hadn't done that much but still this was a little much for a small incident with the eel.

"If you're trying to prove a point, consider it proven! I won't do it again, I promise. So…come on out, I have something for ya!"

That was when I heard a slight rustling coming from above me, looking up I see that Toothless was sitting on an overhanging branch, holding the basket above my head. I stared at him and he stared at me. Thinning my lips, I look up at him, daring him to do it.

Instead of dumping a whole pile of fish on me, as I thought, he drops the empty basket on me and covers me with a 'whump'.

"Ow!" I was slightly taller then the basket so it craned my neck down as it fell causing me to crouch. Groaning as the smell of fish surrounds me, and the walls of the basket were slick with water. I hear Toothless leap from the tree with a light thud and his shadow fell over the basket. My mouth falls slightly agape as I began to see where this was heading so I try to push the basket off me, only to feel pressure on the top as he laid his paw, tail…whatever, on the bottom…er…top in this case…of the basket.  He trapped me in the basket.

"Hey, Toothless, come on!" I start to beat against the basket and try to tip it over. Growling as hear the dragon tittering outside the basket. "Come one Toothless, you proved your point…now let me out." I hear a thud and I see his shadow still as I assume that he sat down. Sighing, I place my forehead against the side of the basket. My knees pulled to my chest and my hands at my sides. I began to wonder how long he'd keep me under here.

"Come on Toothless…I don't know what you want me to say…" I hear a snort from outside the basket. "If this is about the eel you deserved that for dunking me in the water. Ah, hey!" He had smacked the side of the basket with his tail and gave me a disapproving growl. Sighing again, I start banging my head against the basket. Something in the back of my head was telling me to apologize to him, so after awhile I finally gave in.

"All right, bud…I'm sorry…now…can you let me out…please?"

Silence then the shadow moved, and I experimentally pushed against the top of the basket, when it lifted off the ground I gratefully pushed all the way off, stretching my limbs out. I flinch as a pain shoots up the right side of my neck.

"Ah, man…" I roll my shoulder and rub the sore spot on my neck. Must've been pain from all the work I'd done last night. It was probably bad being crouched down like that, it caused it to stiffen which when stretched, would cause it to hurt. Opening my eyes I see Toothless, watching me curiously, head tilted. He looked down at my hand on my shoulder, then back at me.

"Oh, don't worry about me bud, I'll be fine. Just comes from straining it too much. Not your fault…well…kind of is…but mostly mine." I smile as I pat the top of his head. He lets out a soft purring noise, before sitting down in front of me. "OH yeah! I almost forgot!" I run toward the entrance and crouch down to pick up the saddle. Turning back around holding saddle up proudly and smiling brightly at him, Toothless did not look so pleased in fact he jumped up and started running away.

"Hey, no!" I then take off after the bounding dragon. "It's not going to hurt you Toothless I promise!" He doesn't listen, instead he leaps out over the lake and glides across to the other side. "Toothless, come on!" I stare at him from across the pond and he sits there staring at me too.

"Don't be such a big baby, it's just a saddle." He shoots fire at the ground, and looks at me indignantly. "Yes, yes I know you're a dragon." Growling, pulls his ears back, I cross my arms. "I know you're a Night Fury, but you do want to fly again don't you?" His green eyes stare at me intently. "Well, I'm trying to help you do that, and in order to do that I need this!" I accentuate this by holding up the saddle. I see him, open his mouth and pulled the saddle away just in time to avoid it being hit by a fire blast.

"Hey, now that is uncalled for! Do you know how hard I've worked on this," I examine the saddle to make sure it wasn't singed or anything before looking up to glare at him. "Don't be a big baby; the other dragons will still think your something to be feared."  He huffed and flipped around, snapping his artificial tail at me.

"Oh, you stubborn, arrogant reptile, I can't believe that you're throwing a fit over a little saddle! It's not like its going to kill you!" He flapped his tail again snapping the artificial tail fin again. I wasn't sure what that meant but I knew it couldn't be very nice.

If he wants to play the hard way, then so can I. "Okay then. I guess you don't really want to fly again after all." I shrug and place the saddle under my arm, turning and walking away from the lake. "Looks like the mighty Night Fury has been grounded by a human, I wonder if…Whaah!"

A force knocked me on my stomach, saddle slipping from my grip and pressure on the small of my back, claws slightly tapping against my vest. I hear a low rumbling above my head. Tilting my head up I see two flared green eyes peering back at me. A nervous grin spreads across my face as it fills my being.

"Heh…too much?" He snorts ruffling my hair. "Yeah, sorry about that, but I didn't know any other way to get you over here so I don't have to shout." I see what looks to be a questioning gaze. "Okay, I know you must be sensitive about the whole being grounded thing…I would too. I mean it's like taking away my ability to walk…I don't really know what I'd do." I look down at the dirt, flicking a rock with my fingers. "I really do want to get you air born…it's also because I am the reason you can't fly…again…I just want to fix something I screwed up…" I softly laugh and run my fingers through my hair. "This must be starting to sound like something I'm doing for me…but really…you deserve to fly again! You don't deserve to be grounded because of me. You don't deserve to be stuck in this valley. You belong up there." I point to the sky and look up, the vast blue sky with splotches of white shifting across them like Viking ships across the sea.  

His head follows my finger and looks up; he scans the sky and then looks back down at me. My head tilts down at the dirt again. "I'm not trying to punish you…I promise…I just really want to try and fix what I've broken…and give back what I've taken." I softly chuckle, "I'm talkin' like you understand me…you probably don't even understand a word that I'm saying do you?"

My response was the pressure beings lifted from my back, and then I was slowly lifted up by the scruff of my neck and placed on my feet. Sighing, I pat the dirt off my shirt, and then my saddle comes into view. Blinking, I glance up at the dragon that was holding it in his tail. Holding out my hands, I wait as he puts it in my hands and sits down watching me. I look up at him, wondering if this was a sign that it was okay.

"Are you going to let me help you?" He let out a sigh like sound and stood, turning so his side was in front of me. My heart leaped into my throat and excitement started to build inside me. "R…really? " He snorted and looked back at me, tilting his head toward his back. Grinning I run up next to him and I carefully place the saddle on his back, gauging his reaction at the weight. He groaned and shook his head as I pull the strap around him so I could fasten it. Thankfully, it was long enough to go around him.

"Okay, so far…so good." I tugged on the strap to make sure that it was secure, seeing that it was I then stretch the leather to put across his neck so I'd have something to hold onto. Toothless started to fidget as I buckled it around his neck. Snorting, he shook his head away from my grip and started using his claws to scratch at it.

"Hey, hey, hey! No, no, no, no, no! I need that in order to stay on. I'm pretty sure that you don't want the tail fin to snap shut on you do you?" I put my hands on his paw to stop the movements. "Please Toothless." He looks down at me and rolls his eyes, before placing his front paw back on the ground. I pat his shoulder as I check the strap around his neck to make sure that it hadn't been broken, thankfully it hadn't. Grinning, I then, reach into the pocket in my vest, and pull out a rope from it.

"One more thing before we can test it out again." I run back toward his tail, where I loop the rope into a space near the middle and knotted it tight so it wouldn't get loose, slowly walking backward I tested it to make sure that it would pull it out, after a couple good yanks to make sure that it would snap open and not pull the rope loose.

"Okay bud, give me just a second." Reaching up to grab a hold of the saddle, I slide my foot into the holder, hoisting myself up and sit comfortably on the saddle sliding my right foot into its holder. Heart racing I couldn't believe that I was actually riding on the back of a dragon. Taking deep breaths and flexing my grip on the rope and the leather handles I made to hold my self on, I then open my eyes and pat his shoulder.

"Okay bud, let's try going across the lake." He shrugged my hand off, glided over to the wall of the canyon, and flipped around to face the lake. Heart pounding loudly in my chest and excitement building in my stomach I take a few deep breathes and grip the handle hard. "Okay…no turning back." I lean down against the saddle, "Lets give this a try huh?"

Shaking his head he hunched down and started running toward the lake. I then felt his shoulders shift as he spread his wings, I knew he left the ground because he just started zooming straight ahead. Steeling my self I tugged on the rope, the next I know, Toothless is zooming to the right and I'm thrown to the left, right into the water.

Sputtering, I come up gasping for air as the wind had been knocked out of me. Propelling my self toward the shore, I pulled my self out of the water, coughing on the water that I'd inhaled. Groaning I pound the ground with my fist and flopped on my back.

"Well that worked like a charm…I guess it's back to the drawing board." I push myself up and peel off my vest squeezing out the water, a puddle formed at my feet as I did so. Tossing it on the boulder, I moved to find some sticks when I heard snapping behind me and then a popping sound, this caused me to turn around to see Toothless laying in front of a fire...in a rather big tree…but a fire none the less.

His green eyes gazed at me and nodded his head, signaling for me to come over. Grinning, I make my way over to the dragon. He was laying down, in front of the fire so I decided to move beside him. I see his tail flick out of the corner of my eye and it landed beside me. I eye his tail suspiciously, then over at him. He had laid his head down, but his eyes were watching me, almost amused.

"What, do I amuse you?" A snort escaped his mouth, and his tail wrapped around me lifting me off the ground. "Hey, hey! What?"  He dropped me next to his side and pushed me toward the saddle. "Oh, okay...okay…okay. I'll get it off; it probably doesn't feel to good being wet and all huh?" Huffing he waited as I undid the straps from the saddle, slowly lifting himself just enough to slide them out from under him and then he laid back down. I then moved toward his neck and undid the straps from there holding the leather handles in my hand. After that, I plopped down in front of him and examined the saddle.

"Well it seems okay…doesn't look to bad. I am gonna have to figure out how to get my self to stay on…the handles are good to hold onto…but I think I might need something else…hmmm…what do you think?" I look back at him, he opened an eye at me made a gurgling sound and then closed it again. I raise a brow a shake my head…of course he doesn't understand me…sometimes he makes me think that he does though.

"We'll get this figured out Toothless…eventually…"